The Black Present and Presence program had Dr. Miller, Khalia Ii, and V. Dozier talk about the background of African American culture and how it has evolved within our society today. The book Freedom On My Mind by Deborah Gray and African American in Sports by David Wiggins both provide key understanding for Black culture. One of the main issues that was brought up was how African Americans are not credited for the accomplishments and impacts they have on society. Black culture is present all around us in our everyday lives, but we do not know this because they have been silenced. Dr. Miller helps us identify the aspects of Black culture in our everyday lives that we may not have known about and V. Dozer explains the overall presence of the Black community. This program helps us identify the aspects of Black culture that are hidden all around us and how the African American community, specifically women, have amplified their voices to combat this silence.

Dr. Miller introduced the program and brought up the continuation of marginalization for African Americans that exists in our society today. African Americans have popularized many things that exist today; however, they are not given the rightful credit they deserve. For example, Dr. Miller mentioned how black women have been criticized for designing and wearing unique styles of acrylics, but when a famous white person wears them then they are celebrated for it. In the book, African American in Sports, Wiggins explains how Florence Griffith Joyner was one of the fastest African American Olympian runners. Unfortunately, she was one person who was attacked for wearing acrylics during a race because it was not socially acceptable during the time. However, after retirement she “developed her own beauty and clothing lines” (Wiggins) and was not discouraged from her interests by the public. On the contrary, Kylie Jenner is appraised for wearing her own style of nails and now society is willing to accept different forms of nails. At first, I had no idea that African American women have played such an influential role in designing nails because the media never gave credit to them. However, after hearing Dr. Miller’s presentation, I now understand how African American women have evolved their styles, specifically nails in this case, from factors such as slavery, religion, and family. More aspects that have stemmed from Black culture that are overlooked or not noticed are “dapping”, wearing Nike air force one sneakers, nameplate necklaces, and much more. All of these are very popular in our everyday life, but are hardly connected to African Americans in the media. Something similar to this occurred in Freedom On My Mind when the English took advantage of the African technique of harvesting rice, which was a cash crop during this time. As a result, “enslaved Africans grew, harvested, and processed the crop using the equipment and technique first perfected in West Africa” (pg 164) and exported ten million pounds of rice per year. As a result, Carolina rice planters benefited from this tremendously and the enslaved workers got little to no profit from it. This exemplifies how the African American agricultural techniques were very crucial for farming rice in North and South Carolina in 1729. However, the English planters did not give them any credit and this technique was stripped from their culture. Now this is not exactly the same as Kylie Jenner stealing the concepts of nail designs, but it still carries the same weight and message of African Americans being unrecognized for their accomplishments. These examples make us wonder what other things they have been misrecognized for as we go through the history of African Americans.

Dozier explains the importance of communities and how it is present physically and digitally. First, she explains the concept of preferences and how we all have personal and academic preferences: “Twitter for academic preferences and Instagram for personal preferences” (Dozier). She connected this idea of preferences to communities. In her speech, she explains how black women found their niche community not only in person, but through Twitter too, “black Twitter” (Dozier). This online community is very influential for Black women and contributes to their growth. Specifically, they figured out how “environments can show forgiveness, reconciliation, and practice love in a way that makes us feel valued where we live, work, and play” (Dozier). This was found through the support and bond that the Black women community give to each other from the key use of digital spaces. For Twitter, they can send public messages and retweet those messages for more to see, which amplifies their voices so they can be heard. As a result, this creates close relationships with those in the community and offers protection for them as well. For example, V. Dozier mentioned a tweet regarding Tera Hunter being rightfully angry about Deborah McDowell’s prize-winning article not citing from her own book and taking all the credit: “This piece is heavily dependent on my book with no citation to it. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened” (Tera Hunter). This tweet voices her concern about her hard work being stripped away and how her work has been exploited before. However, the Black Twitter community protected her by amplifying her concern through retweets and likes. As a result of all the community engagement, her voice got heard and the book ended up being restricted from being sold. Tera Hunter called for action to be taken and she got responses from her digital space community. This call and response technique has been a part of African American culture for a while and is present within churches, jazz music, and much more. This is an example of the protection that is present within the Black Twitter community. Furthermore, it solves the problem of the Black community being silenced and not being recognized where credit is due. From the digital space, Black women can come together and demonstrate resilience and have a voice that can not be silenced. The Black Twitter community portrays how powerful it is to be unified as one community. The Black women community is not just secluded in Twitter, it is also present in Instagram and Facebook in the same type of way.

In chapter nine of Freedom On My Mind, Deborah Gray delves into the topic of church and community in the 1890’s. Black churches were booming and brought African Americans together. Specifically, “the black church provided the most important institutional support in the transition from slavery to freedom. Joining a church was an act of physical and spiritual emancipation, and black churches united black communities” (Deborah Gray). This is very similar to the digital space that was discussed by V. Dozier because both of them revolve around coming together for a greater purpose. In this case, African Americans came together because “they rejected white Christianity and exited white churches” (Deborah Gray). From this, we can see how Black people had once come together in person to create a community and now they are able to connect with one another digitally.

The Black Present and Presence program discussed how Black culture is present in our everyday lives; however, some things are not fully credited for them. This program gave examples of African Americans being marginalized for things that are popularized today and the resilience that comes with being in a community. The community found in person and in the digital spaces helped Black culture be no longer silenced. Overall, this program informs us that Black culture is not only present physically, but it is also present in the digital space. More Black people will join the digital space to become even more connected with each other and to create positive environments to thrive in. 

Works Cited

Dozier, V. and Ii Khalia, “The Black Present and Presence” Saints and Serra Hall, University of San Diego, San Diego, California

White, Deborah G., et al. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Bedford/St. Martins, 2021. 

Wiggins, David Kenneth. African Americans in Sports. Sharpe Reference, 2004.

Janet Mock, left, listening to Bell Hooks, right.

On Tuesday, May 6th, 2014, The New School presented a conversation panel with four leading voices in black feminism and the LGBTQ+ community. In this conversation at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, radical thinker Bell Hooks leads an engaging dialogue with author Marci Blackman, film director Shola Lynch, and author and activist Janet Mock about the importance of liberating the black female body. The program begins with a brief introduction of the four influential women as well as what they have accomplished in their journey to resist, as Bell Hooks says, the imperialistic white supremacist capitalistic patriarchy that they have been oppressed by their entire lives. The purpose of this panel was to facilitate a conversation in a way that addressed the representation of the black female body and how individual black women can fight for their liberation from the constraints today’s society has imprisoned them with. Questions like “How can black women free themselves from the institutionalized stereotypes that confine them to cultivate new images of themselves?”, “Why is the portrayal of black women in the media important to young impressionable black girls?” and “How can black women create a different image of the female body that promotes self-liberation?” were some of the driving factors in this panel’s dialogue. Throughout the program, Bell Hooks and her fellow panelists highlight the importance of counter-hegemony and how the opposition to the existing status quo is key to a black woman’s ability to claim her identity as not one forged by society’s standards but those of her own. The narrative of the power that comes from a black women’s self-liberation and discovery is significant to the understanding of African American history as it forces the white hetero-cis majority, male and female, to realize the repercussions of the institutionalized racism enforced in today’s society that confines and dehumanizes African American women throughout their every day lives. The program’s theme is crucial as it solidifies the fact that the gendered, racial, and sexual relationships in contemporary America that are oppressive to black women, are the ripple effects of slavery. 

During the early portion of the program, Bell Hooks poses a pivotal question. Talking to African American women as a whole, she says, “Are you still a slave?” The question to some may seem outlandish as we know that slavery, in technical terms, was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6th, 1865. Although that is the case, Bell Hooks is not talking about physical enslavement, but the enslavement of black women’s minds, souls, and ability to be seen as more than just their bodies. The panel discusses how although there are leading female black figures in today’s pop culture, like Beyonce for example, the majority of black women are still dehumanized and hyper-sexualized in society as well as on our television screens and magazine covers.  Analyzing the origins of these images and portrayals of African American women, we see a direct correlation to the treatment of black women in colonialist times. On page 79, Ch. 3, in Freedom on My Mind, by White, Bay, and Martin Jr. a painting from an anonymous artist depicts the two kinds of power that white slaveholders wielded over their slaves; physical power and sexual power. On the left side of the painting, a white male slaveholder is seen kissing an enslaved African American woman. This painting is a representation of how black women were seen as nothing more than sexual beings as they were not even considered women, nor granted the rights and freedom of a living person. Black women were seen as merely their reproductive systems and a form of economic profit. In 1662 a law made the enslavement of black women heritable. The idea that slavery was passed down through the mother, further degraded women and their bodies as they were denied the right to even seek liberty for their children. Women were sexualized as animals through the system of chattel slavery and were subject to domestic abuse, rape, and humiliation as their bodies were seen as the only part of them worth caring for. 

Throughout history, black women have been reduced to images like the Black Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire that portray them as either a breeder, a caretaker, a sex-crazed individual, or emasculating angry black women. These fictitious stereotypes, authored by the dominant white society, were created in the early twentieth century to allow the legitimization of racial prejudice, violence, and continued support of slavery. Although slavery has been abolished, the footprint it left on African American women’s lives has continued to plague them with damaging stereotypes while the white majority refuses to recognize where they came from. During the program, Bell Hooks emphasizes the importance of female representation in the media and films. The image of black women continuously being victimized, sexualized, and denigrated is damaging to all black women as they are given expectations of who they are supposed to be. How are young back girls supposed to claim their sense of self if the only versions of themselves they are seeing are those who are oppressed and in despair? While the painful history of African Americans needs to be known, Bell Hooks says “Despair is not resistance,” and that resistance is what African American women need to define and create a different and more empowering image of the female body. 

During the program, filmmaker Shola Lynch and novelist Marcy Blackmon speak on their experiences of being told to fit into a certain box. Blackmon includes an anecdote of her experience in the airport and how she was demoralized because she didn’t quite fit into society’s standards, the “box.” The continuation of a white society being able to decide what black women can and cannot be has created an environment that only fosters prejudice, conformity, and hate towards those who are different. During this conversation, Bell Hooks asks, “How do we begin to free the black girl body, the black boy body, before they have undergone years and years of emotional assault and colonization.” This quote forces those who are listening to see just how young black children are when they are assigned their worth by the white society’s standards. It is imperative to introduce young black girls to empowering female leaders like Angela Davis who found their own identity based on embracing who she was and what she was passionate about. Black women must be seen as main characters, not just a victim or side characters, but as someone with a story worth telling.

Research has made clear that the negative stereotypes about African American women have been fundamental to their oppression with roots deep in the historical systematic racism that began with slavery. African American women are associated with negative connotations involving motherhood, sexuality, hygiene, and more that are all extensions of the stereotypes conceived during times of the slave trade and reconstruction era. In a research journal titled, The Colonial Roots of the Racial Fetishization of Black Women, author Caren M. Holmes tackles the history of the sexual debasement and abuse of black women and how it is still prevalent in contemporary culture. Holmes argues that the sexualization of the New World and its possibilities led to the rhetoric of submission and exploitation of the black female body. Modern racial fetishizing is addressed as “an extension of the sexualization of black bodies during the colonial era.” Tying Holmes’s argument in with that of Bell Hooks, we are reminded of just how much racism towards African Americans is embedded in our everyday lives. It’s been proven time and time again that, “…black bodies remain byproducts of an ongoing manifest destiny,” (Caren M. Holmes, 2016.) Bell Hooks believes that the injustices against black women’s bodies aren’t going to be solved by creating one’s reclaimed version, but by the complete resistance and opposition to oppression. 

The program “Are you still a slave? Liberating the black female body” enlightens audiences on the painfully true reality that an African American woman has no agency in her own life until she can surpass the racialized obstacles in the imperialistic, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy that America calls “equal.” Programs like these that call out the fabrication of equality in the present day are so important as they bring validity to the experiences of those who are oppressed, and responsibility and accountability to the oppressors. The four panelists spark ideas and imaginations of black women in the audience about who they can become, who they can be, and who they already are but don’t know yet. At one point during the conversation, Janet Mock and Shola Lynch talk about the importance of having women of color that they looked up to. It is pivotal that young girls have black female role models that they can look up to. Women who have broken the barriers of prejudice by finding the power to imagine a new narrative for themselves are the inspiration of hope. 

Slavery ended on December 6th, 1865. Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president on January 20th, 2021. Why has it taken over a century and a half for black women to start to be given the respect and credibility that they deserve? This question is the exact reason why this program is so crucial to African American history; to educate those who are unaware or ignorant of the injustices black women face every day, and to facilitate a critical thinking environment for those who aim to solve it.

Works Cited: 

Holmes, Caren M. (2016) “The Colonial Roots of the Racial Fetishization of Black Women,” Black & Gold: Vol. 2.

Available at: https://openworks.wooster.edu/blackandgold/vol2/iss1/2

White D. G., Bay M., & Jr. W. E. M. (2020). Freedom on My Mind. [Macmillan]. Retrieved from https://macmillan.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781319265670/

Throughout the past centuries African Americans have fought for their freedom and equality, yet the fight still continues. Racism can be seen in many different aspects such as politically, economically, socially, and more. Writer Heather McGhee speaks on this issue of inequality in her book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. McGhee set out to find how racism effects the country as a whole, specifically the American economy. Throughout her book she talks about many of today’s issues that stem from issues in the past. I learned about the effects of a zero sum mindset, the right and ability to earn money, and how this is overall affected by access to education. This all contributes to economic inequality and the widening of the wealth gap between Whites and Blacks which has helped me widen my overall understanding of African American History.

Her journey began out of her frustration with racial discrimination which was then followed by curiosity as she wanted to discover how racism has economically effected the individual as well as nation as a whole. This pushed her to make the unexpected decision to leave her dream job in 2017 to answer the question: “why … can’t [we] have nice things in America ”, meaning why are there not living wages for all workers, access to education, affordable healthcare, etc. According to McGhee, most of this can be answered by the Zero-Sum Mindset which is the idea that one person’s gain is another person’s loss. This begs the question of why so many white Americans have the idea that life is a fixed pie of well being; “If I get more, you get less” and vice versa. McGhee believes this is due to whites seeing racism as a Zero Sum game that they are now losing. I find this interesting as this means that some whites, even if subconsciously, believe that the more wealthy Black people there are in society the worse off they will be. In contrast, Black people do not see the world in the same lense of the Zero Sum Policy. This is important to our understanding of African American History as this mindset stems from the past and can be seen throughout history in a variety of ways. One such way is DeFacto Segregation discussed throughout Chapter 14 of Freedom On My Mind. DeFacto Segregation is a type of racism that is used to separate Blacks from Whites in a non-systematic way as it is a “less visible” form of racism that still maintains racial barriers. This still allows whites to appear as superior, relating back to the Zero Sum mindset that the less rights African Americans have the more the whites have. These acts of racism continue to have a large affect on today’s society, explained further when The Harvard Gazette states that, “the legacy of slavery and other subsequent forms of legal discrimination against African Americans have hindered their ability to accumulate wealth”, which relates back to McGhee’s statement that the Zero Sum mindset has led to many current economic issues.

 In her book, McGhee analyzes the 1950’s – 1960’s, a time when the country was still heavily segregated. She learned that many policies such as lack of access to public resources, lack of housing, lack of access to education and more led to “institutional racism and individual racism creat[ing] so much distance” as discussed in the program. What McGhee meant was that all these acts of racism created an even larger economic gap between whites and Blacks. This is important because she talks about individual racism, in addition to institutional racism to show that both have an equal effect on the country’s economic status. This connects to Chapter 15 of our textbook, Freedom On My Mind as it too discusses the topic of Economic Inequality during this time. The text shares that James Farmer of CORE says, “It will be a hollow victory, indeed, if we win the important rights to spend our money in places of public accommodation, on buses, or what have you, without also winning the even more vital right to earn money” (914). This quote shows that even with the right to get money, African Americans are still economically poor as they are not able to purchase certain items, live in certain areas, and have certain jobs. This is very compelling to me as our current economic status is connected to that of the past as Black people are still victims of predatory lending, reverse redlining and more. As sadly stated in The Harvard Gazette, “…most everybody across the political spectrum agrees  that if a child grows up poor, but works hard and takes advantage of opportunities, that child’s children will have a better life,’ said Murnane. ‘That’s less true now.’” This large economic gap between racial groups has grown to the point of no return which is almost impossible to escape from. That is a hard reality to face. 

Currently, this gap continues to grow. As the economic gap began small in the past, there were less severe differences between the rich and the poor. Yet, in today’s society there is a clear difference and it is mostly due to education, more specifically, access to education. The Harvard Gazette states, “Rising inequality has led to growing gaps in educational resources and learning opportunities between high-income families and their low-income counterparts”, showing the correlation between education and wealth, in which most lower income families are people of color and have lower access to better education. Similarly, in the program as McGhee talks about her book she discusses that the “average Black college graduate earns less than a white college drop out”. So even with a college degree, a Black graduate has less economic opportunity because of racism. If Black Americans are unable to get jobs and start incurring debt then, it impacts the country and nation’s economy as whole. This is significant to our understanding of African American History as in Chapter 14 of  Freedom On My Mind, it too discusses the importance of education, yet the inability to access it. The book states, “Wallace called for the elimination of racism ‘from our unions, our business organizations, our educational institutions and our employment practices’” (834). This is important because while the elimination of racism was clearly needed in the working industry and government, Wallance also stated the importance of eliminating racism in schools. This is because education was and still is the key to wealth. Similarly, even decades ago, African Americans knew the importance of education and that it was a necessity to be granted the same educational opportunities as the whites as it was the first step to social equality. 

Overall, McGhee’s program discussing her book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, along with our class textbook, Freedom On My Mind, and the article,The Harvard Gazette, all agree upon similar aspects of racism that have continued to affect our nation today. This has helped widen my understanding of African American history as I was able to understand the importance of learning the history of racism and discrimination as it is still present in today’s society. However, in the program McGhee states that,“There are absolutely signs of hope” after the civil rights movements and popular events that happened in 2020. As it will always be a battle of people of goodwill and good dreams versus people of zero visions. According to McGhee we are, “all doing our part to chip away at an old and big wall”, meaning the wall of racism. This is why McGhee’s program, our textbook, and The Harvard Gazette article have all helped expand my understanding of African American History and how it has affected our current society economically. 

Bibliography

McGhee, Heather C. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Profile Books Ltd., 2022. 

Mineo, Liz. “Racial Wealth Gap May Be a Key to Other Inequities.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 17 June 2021, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/06/racial-wealth-gap-may-be-a-key-to-other-inequities/. 

White, Deborah G., et al. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Bedford/St. Martins, 2021. 

Justice Not Served

“It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people” was said by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, one of the most visible civil rights activist leaders during the mid-20^th century. In this time, his voice rocked the whole nation as well as inspired black people for the fight for equality. But, although progress had been made towards equality, many young African Americans still feel vulnerable to racism and marginalization in America. In Cathy Cohen’s speech, she talks about the vulnerability and feelings young African Americans are feeling nowadays. She points out the fact that they do not feel safe, and they may even feel alienated by the institutions that were supposed to protect United States citizens. The data she drew from was significant as it demonstrated feelings of young African American people as well as evidence of inequality. Although white people have continually brushed aside the issue with racism and unequal treatment towards backs, it is most definitely an issue in the United States. For generations, African Americans have felt unsafe under the system that were supposed to protect them, thus it should be impossible for people to claim that whites and blacks are treated as equal.

Vulnerability has been a dire feeling for African Americans, since the birth of the nation, black people have suffered through countless racial inequalities. So, its no wonder why they still feel vulnerable even to this date. Cathy Cohen is a famous political science figure who have also been studying young adult politics for 15 years now. In her speech given she believes that “Vulnerability is a necessary component of living a rich and authentic human life,” however, it can also “signifies the damaging and indeed disastrous effects of domination and power” (Cohen). In the case of African American people, a survey has been done and shown that African American young adults feels that black people are treated worse by the police as to white people.  Over the recent years, there have been many accounts of police brutality that have taken place. One of the most notable cases includes the beating of Rodney King. In 1991, a man named Rodney King who lived in Los Angeles had a video taken of him “lying on the ground while police beat him with batons.” While the officers argued that it was a justified use of force, many, including most African Americans saw it as police brutality. When the jury came back with a non-guilty verdict, outrage swept the nation and riots erupted across the United States as African Americans saw the entire incident as a symbol of the many “unmitigated extralegal justice that followed blacks” (White 989-990). This is just one of many cases of police brutality that has taken place in recent history, others include the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. These cases are a microcosm of how black people have been treated since they were forced over here in the United States. From the time African Americans were slaves till now, although they have achieved freedom, the thing that have remained same for centuries is that they have and will still be treated as less until or institutions changes.

While the police force is supposed to create a safe environment for citizens, many African Americans certainly do not feel that way. Thus, Cathy Cohen talks about the concept of alienated vulnerability. She defined it as “a feeling of harm and anger, with no sense that the institution, systems, and agents…will protect you.” If a whole group of people feels as if they are treated poorly by law enforcements, it signifies that there must be something wrong in our system which leads to this problem. As citizens of the United States, African Americans should not feel afraid of the police, the police force should act to protect all citizens. They should not treat half of all citizens better than the other. This indicates that white people still believe themselves as a superior race. Most interestingly, Cohen also mentions that white young adults also feel vulnerability, that they feel their positions in society are vulnerable and that their jobs in the future may be at stake because of competition. Because of these fears, politicians understands that they need to suppress African Americans and their efforts made towards equal rights. This was the case with Nixon’s administration and the New Rights he implemented. The New Rights essentially reversed a lot of the effort made towards an equal society for African Americans. Thus, giving white people a sense of superiority. For every action or step made towards equality, African Americans have also dealt with hold backs and regression. With laws and regulations that specifically targets black people, the country has essentially chosen to marginalize a whole race. This ultimately shows how much power white politicians have, and that there haven’t been much justice shown towards African Americans.

For the majority of African Americans, they still feel as if they are lacking a voice, they are desperate for revolution thus spawning protests and movements to do so. After the unjustified killings on George Zimmerman in 2013, three African American lesbians created a hashtag that would soon “take America and the world by storm.” After years of neglect by society, as they are “denied fleeting economic opportunity” as well as suffering “diminishing public education,” African Americans have had enough thus sparking the Black Lives Matter movement that is still going strongly today. This movement would eventually become a “battle cry within the African American community” as it was a call to action from the black community towards politicians (Royster). As young people feel vulnerable under our system, they now “see protests as politics” as they “demand transformational disruption through protest elections.” Cathy Cohen believes that at the heart of these responses, young people believe that “there has to be systemic change for them to ever feel and function like full and equal citizens in the country” (Cohen). It bears significance that young people now see protests as politics. As young people are losing hope for our government, they are doing whatever they can to have their voices heard. Under the constitution of the United States, everyone should have access to the most basics of rights to people. African Americans nowadays still do not feel as if they have an equal number of rights and justice that belongs to them. Cathy Cohen makes a great point when she says that a systemic change is needed for black people to feel equal to whites. Equality is an idea that starts from the ground up, if there is a fundamental part of a system that is not in favor of it, then how can a society function with equality. Citizens will not feel safe until those fundamental errors are corrected and until then, African Americans will continually feel suppressed under the current system.

Young African Americans have now been left to wrestle with the system that have been structured to marginalize and suppress their rights for centuries. For generations, black African Americans have been trying relentlessly to get a taste of equality. But every time progress is made, white people have tampered with the progress, ultimately slowing down all the effort that have been made. This leaves this generation of young African American feeling vulnerable in this society. The BLM movement have shown the world what Africa Americans are still feeling, and they hope that something may change sooner or later. This country needs to wake up and realize that a country is better a united group. Hate and suppression will only slow the advancement of a group. Our institution must realize that change is needed to facilitate equality because currently there are a lot of flaws in the systems that prevent it. The meaning of Justice is to have fair and equality to all, but a big part of society still neglects the fact that a big population do not feel as if they have been favored by justice.

Work Cited

Cohen, Cathy. “We Want Revolution.” Illume Speaker Series Presents. We Want Revolution, 11 May 2022, San Diego, Humanities Center.

Royster, Dwayne D., and Stephen G. Ray Jr. “Race and Social Reality for African Americans in

the 21st Century.” The American Mosaic: The African American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2022, africanamerican2.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/2174022?sid=2174023&cid=91. Accessed 13 May 2022.

White, Deborah G., et al. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Bedford/St. Martins, 2021.