Master of Business Administration, The Ohio State University, 1965, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1980, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1949, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1940, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Criminal Justice

African Americans have always had diverse opinions about different facets of American life, including how to solve America's problems. Diversity of ideology and solutions has persisted in the decades since the Civil Rights Era. Many Blacks report perceiving and experiencing racial discrimination in a variety of areas, including housing, employment, education and criminal justice system sentencing. Conversely, there is a notable segment of the African American community who are satisfied because they do not perceive or experience racial discrimination in America and these areas. However, there is a dearth of research into what is contributing to these divergent views within this community. This dissertation addresses this gap by assessing whether political ideology – particularly political conservatism -- predicts divergent perceptions and experiences related to African American experiences in America, broadly speaking, and the criminal justice system specifically. Given prior research, I expect to find that political ideology will be a significant predictor across outcomes, with Black conservatives holding more favorable views of America, race relations and the criminal justice system. Gender, age, income and education will be used as control variables because they can also predict experiences and perceptions on these topics. Results support both hypotheses. Ideology was a robust predictor of experiences and perceptions regarding America, race relations and the criminal justice system. The robustness remained strong even when controlling gender, age, income, and education. The most important implication is that ideology trumps race. Consequently, Blacks should be portrayed as an ideologically diverse group with a wide range of views on those three areas. The second implication is that Black conservatives resemble other conservative Americans. This is particularly true of holding favorable perceptions in those three areas. These more favorable perceptions (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Wright Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jay Kennedy Ph.D. (Committee Member); Francis Cullen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sandra Browning Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2022, Honors

Over the past few years, the nationwide protests over the long-standing plague of racism in our country, most recently manifested in the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, have placed our nation before a “fork in the road.” We stand on the precipice of monumental change or devastating regression in the area of race relations within our nation. This has been most vivid in the relationship between law enforcement and the African American community. What comes next between these two parties will depend on how law enforcement responds to the cries of the people in these affected communities. Historically, particularly in African American communities, there has been an intimate connection between social movements and sensitives to injustice and faith. At the same time, there appears to be a decreasing appreciation of faith among law enforcement officers. If the disparity between the attitude towards faith by law enforcement and the significance of faith in communities of color continues to increase, it will undoubtedly lead to more tension between these two communities. I hypothesize that reconciliation between law enforcement and African American communities can be achieved through the inclusion of religious literacy in the training and formation of law enforcement officers. As a disclaimer, it is important to understand that the building of trust and the reparation of relationships is an effort that requires the cooperation of both sides. This means that there has to be a willingness and an understanding from both law enforcement and communities of color for any real difference to be made. It is also important to recognize that this is not a “black versus white” issue, this is an issue that affects society as a whole. This understanding will be made present throughout this research, but the primary focus will be on the inclusion of religious literacy in the formation of law enforcement officers.

Committee: Fr. Louis Bertrand Lemoine O.P. (Other); Cary Dabney (Advisor) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Behaviorial Sciences; Criminology; Divinity; Law; Legal Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Psychology; Religion; Religious Education; Religious History; Sociology; Theology; World History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1959, History

Committee: R. Stanley McCordock (Advisor) Subjects: History

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Criminal Justice

Understanding the ideas and opinions of members of local communities is important for understanding the policies that are enforced in those communities. One area of focus has salience for American politics—racism. Issues surrounding racism have played a central role in American policy debates for decades, and recent years have seen an acceleration in conversations concerning the role of the criminal justice system in perpetuating racial disparities in health, wealth, and well-being. Yet, measurement tools and methods used to study public opinion have not kept up with the fast-paced conversation in this area. This dissertation highlights the need for novel sources of data that are readily available, cheap, and easy to implement and study. The current project submits that “big data” drawn from Google searches has promising new potential. If we allow for the possibility that Google search data can tell us something about our beliefs and attitudes, then it is possible that such data can be used to understand prevailing attitudes and sentiments in local communities. The current dissertation will put these assumptions to the test by drawing information from Google searches to understand community-level racial animus and whether such data can be used to better understand racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Committee: J.C. Barnes Ph.D. (Committee Member); Casey Harris Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ben Feldmeyer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joshua Cochran Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology

BA, Oberlin College, 2020, History

This Honors Thesis in History explores U.S. race relations and racial politics through the lens of a coal mining strike that took place during the late 1920s, in the Pittsburgh area.

Committee: Renee Christine Romano (Advisor); Tamika Nunley (Committee Co-Chair); Ellen Wurtzel (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Black History; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; History; Labor Relations; Management; Mining

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2020, History (Arts and Sciences)

The lynching era in the United States lasted from 1880-1940 and occurred due to White men attempting to maintain supremacy over all hierarchies: Racial, gender, and class. They spread racist views about the oversexualization of African American men to create an irrational fear of the Black rapist and to discourage White women from miscegenation. White supremacists also used this fear and excuse for lynching to keep Black Americans in a marginalized position and prevent them from prospering economically or politically. These views existed in unexpected places thought to have good race relations. The lynching of Christopher Davis that occurred in Athens, Ohio, in 1881 exemplifies these characteristics of lynchings across the United States. To say lynching was a southern phenomenon is inaccurate and ignores how powerful and widespread White supremacy was. The newspapers that reported on the lynching of Christopher Davis tried to distort Davis's image, which was common practice for lynch victims in the United States. Today, the media still attempts to defame Black Americans, and the violence on Black bodies continues in a different form. Racist views that stem from the history of lynchings are passed on through generations and are still prevalent today.

Committee: Katherine Jellison Dr. (Advisor); Marianna Dantas Dr. (Committee Member); Kevin Mattson Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; American History; Black History

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2019, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines the advocacy and journalistic work of civil rights activist and newspaper publisher Daisy Bates. It explores her ability to negotiate her black womanhood, while navigating the discriminatory practices in the South in the 1940s and 1950s. Bates and her husband founded the Arkansas State Press in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1941, which echoed the sentiments of the civil rights movement at the time. As this thesis demonstrates, Bates's journalistic advocacy mirrored the practices of northern black publications, while defying the traditions of southern race relations. Her journalistic style, characterized by militant sarcasm and provocation of both whites and blacks, came to cement her as a trailblazing black journalist in a region heavily shaped by blacks' oppression. More than being a black woman in times of white male preeminence, Bates defied the double burden of racism and sexism as she wrote stories that attacked white supremacy and accounted for racial injustice in the South. Through an assessment of her journalistic work, this thesis applies a historical research method to restore Bates's place in black press history and situate her within black feminist thought, as a radical frontrunner for women of color in the South in the twentieth century.

Committee: Michael Sweeney (Committee Chair); Aimee Edmondson (Committee Member); Marilyn Greenwald (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Black History; Gender Studies; History; Journalism; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Womens Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

The face of cities and suburbs has changed. The majority of Americans now live in suburbs and today's suburbs are becoming more racially diverse than ever before. However, most research on this topic is limited to quantitative research designs that cannot fully ascertain the quality of race relations in this changing landscape. My research uses an ethnographic approach to investigate social life in one racially diverse suburb of Cleveland, OH: Shaker Heights. Specifically, I investigate how African Americans who occupy this space—as residents, employees, and visitors—think about, describe, and participate in social life in a diverse suburb. After two years of ethnographic fieldwork, I conclude that, although Shaker Heights is statistically integrated, the residential spaces and social lives of black adults do not reflect this demographic reality. Moreover, black adults interpret the rare, discrete instances where racial diversity is promoted as inauthentic. Finally, my research explores connections and commonalities among the black adults living in the segregated sections of Shaker Heights. This information will help scholars better understand dynamics of race relations in a neighborhood context that is both seldom explored and growing in demographic importance.

Committee: Jeffrey Timberlake Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Erynn Casanova Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sarah Mayorga-Gallo (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Creative Writing/Fiction

It's 2016 and the nameless narrator breaks into his ex-wife's house to retrieve a taxidermied badger, a way to regain a small measure of control in his life. Feeling confident after retrieving the badger, he decides to revisit his old haunt, The Lucky Clover, where rawboned and rough characters await him, principally Nanny, a six-foot redheaded amateur madam with a penchant for meth binges. One night the narrator discovers and takes a sizable amount of cocaine, is marked for death by Ray Kennedy, a man haunted by his own racial background. The narrator then turns to crime to repay the debt, only to find he's been a pawn in game where violence is the only possible conclusion.

Committee: Wendell Mayo (Advisor); Lawrence Coates (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; Fine Arts; Literature; Modern Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1975, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1975, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1973, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1973, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1972, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: History