Black Women in America Speech

Black Women in America Speech

The objective of this speed is to examine the historical involvement of black women in American institutions as well as education, religious, political and social reconstruction. This work will also examine the linkages of black women in Africa, the Caribbean and North America.

The work of Jean-Marie (2006) entitled: "Welcoming the Unwelcomed: A Social Justice Imperative of African-American Female Leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities" relates that "the social movements during the last 50 years of the 20th century were among the most tumultuous years for people of color." African-American women are stated to have "confronted and disrupted institutions thought to be responsible for their oppression." (Jean-Marie, 2005) Jean-Marie's work shows how the "coming of age" of African-American women "...was inextricably linked to the larger changing consciousness of African-Americans who challenged the existing social order in new ways." (p. 86) in fact, it was these African-American women were "among the freedom fighter who integrated public schools, and later pursued higher education and professional careers. (Jean-Marie, 2005, p. 86)

I. The ROLE of HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE UNIVERSITIES (HBCU's)

The 'Historically Black College Universities' (HBCUs) helped in opening doors through "...outreach programs and educational resources to make higher learning obtaining to African-Americans." (Jean-Marie, 2005, p. 87) the work of Verharen (1996) stated that the HBCUs "must use their institutional power to make it possible for the powerless to seize the freedom that comes from being chosen..." HBCU's continue in the present "to serve as educational citadels and cultural repositories for African-American community, as well as centers for social and political development of students, faculty, and communities, and the regions and states in which they are located." (Sims, 1994)

III. GENDERED EFFECTS NOTED in INSTITUTIONAL PARTICIPATION

The work of Robnett (2007) entitled: "Gendered Resource Returns: African-American Institutions and Political Engagement" reports a study that focused on the gendered nature of engagement of African-Americans in organization and institutions and states findings that: (1) African-American women participate less than African-American men; (2) in spite of black institutional participation the gender gap remains; (3) a liberal political orientation or households with union members mediates the gendered black institution effect; and (4) black institutional involvement enhances male more than female political participation. (Robnett, 2007, p. 2) However, African-American women have been found in the work of other researchers to be "more likely to participate in campaign and group related political activities than Black men, while Black men are more likely to contact a public official than are Black women." (p. 2)

IV. AFRICAN DIASPORA'S in the UNITED STATES

The work of Zeleza (2003) entitled: "The Academic Diaspora and Knowledge Production in and on Africa: What Role for Codesria?" states that while the African Diaspora emerged in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s "African diasporas existed long before then in different parts of the world, and African peoples were mobilized using other terms, such as Pan-Africanism." (Zeleza, 2003, p. 1) in the U.S. "there are...at least four waves of African diasporas: first the historical communities of African-Americans, themselves formed out of complex internal and external migrations over several hundred years; second, migrant communities from other diasporic locations, such as the Caribbean that have maintained or invoke, when necessary or convenient, national identities such as Jamaicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans....; third, the recent immigrants from the indigenous communities of Africa; and finally, African migrants who are themselves diasporas from Asia or Europe." (Zeleza, 2003, p. 2) Each of these diasporas "...has its own connections and commitments to Africa, its own memories and imaginations of Africa and its own conceptions of the diasporic condition and identity." (Zeleza, 2003, p. 2) the following figure illustrates these linkages among African-American women in American Institutions and throughout the world.

Linkages between African-American Women in American Institutions and Throughout the World

SHAPE

Jean-Marie, Gaetane (2006) Welcoming the Unwelcomed: A Social Justice Imperative of African-American Female Leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Educational Foundations, Vol. 20 No. 1-2. Winter-Spring 2006. Online available at http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ751762&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ751762

Robnett, Belinda (2007) Gendered Resource Returns: African-American Institutions and Political Engagement. University of California, Irvine. Center for the Study of Democracy. Paper 0704.

Sims, S.J. (1994). Diversifying historically black colleges and universities: A new higher education paradigm. Westport, CT: Greenwood in: Jean-Marie, Gaetane (2006) Welcoming the Unwelcomed: A Social Justice Imperative of African-American Female Leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Educational Foundations, Vol. 20 No. 1-2. Winter-Spring 2006