Monday, May 12, 2008
Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits
Much of the feedback has been surprising, Willis added. “Paul Robeson Jr. [son of the renowned entertainer and activist] told me he had never seen that image of his father.”
“I’ve been contacted by people from abroad who’ve seen the show,” she said. For example, “Polish viewers related to the civil rights images” because African-American activism affected their own pro-democracy movement.
The appeal of the portraits transcends race, culture or nationality, said Willis. “These images resonate with people everywhere,” she said.
The photographs date from 1856 to 2004; the oldest is an ambrotype portrait of the 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, whose penetrating gaze attests to his forceful personality and confirms the aptness of his nickname, The Lion of Anacostia. That nickname is a reference not only to a neighborhood in Washington, but to Douglass’ stature as orator, author and champion of universal human rights.
Nearby is a photograph of Sojourner Truth, a female contemporary of Douglass who campaigned fearlessly against slavery and for women’s rights. Truth favored a plain Quaker style of dress intended to convey respectability and seriousness of purpose to a 19th-century audience that granted women far less latitude than men, said Willis.
Author, educator and activist W.E.B. Du Bois, captured in a sepia-toned image, is shown in profile, looking thoughtful and introspective. In contrast, actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson is turned directly to the viewer.
The exhibition features a mix of formal studio portraits and seemingly unposed photographs, such as a dynamic image of operatic soprano Jessye Norman singing with eyes closed and gesturing expansively with one hand. Jazz musician Louis Armstrong, flashing his trademark grin, lifts his trumpet in mid-performance, surrounded by members of his band. Dancer and choreographer Gregory Hines is a study in fluid grace as he pivots barefoot against a seamless backdrop. Pioneering figures in the civil rights movement also make their appearance, including Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Malcolm X.
In all of these photographs, African Americans are consciously presenting themselves as they wish to be seen, instead of accepting the identity imposed on them by the larger society, said Willis. The images created “a communal portrait of prestige and power that resisted the stereotypes of the time.”
Glamorous studio shots of film actresses Dorothy Dandridge and Lena Horne, for example, make it clear that African-American women were every bit as alluring as their white counterparts. These photographs employ “beauty as a political statement,” said Willis.
She cited a few images that are her personal favorites, including a photograph of politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael conversing in the hallway of a congressional building. The two men are relaxed and jovial, with Powell -- a congressman -- and the much younger Carmichael personifying two generations of the civil rights struggle.
Another favorite photograph, of singer Nat “King” Cole, shows the entertainer performing at a fashionable nightclub, entirely at ease and clearly in command of the room.
Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits opened October 19, 2007, and will be on display until March 2, 2009. More information about NMAAHC and its activities is available on the museum’s Web site. National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Gee’s Bend Quilters Create Art from Scraps of Fabric
“Whatever we had, we made the best of it,” says Creola B. Pettway in the documentary “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.”
In 2007, Herman, who spoke at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where 45 Gee’s Bend quilts were on exhibition, described how some quiltmakers, such as Mary Lee Bendolph, make the entire quilt at home, while others take pieced-together fabric squares to the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective for finishing. Most now purchase their fabrics. The quiltmakers pass on their techniques and the tradition of quiltmaking to their daughters, granddaughters and other girls in the community.
“Quiltmaking is as much about the construction of community and kin networks as it is about learning to make bed coverings,” Herman told USINFO.
“So many things now are mechanized; this is handmade,” said Tosha Grantham, co-curator of the Walters exhibition. “Even if you use a machine to piece the little [fabric] squares together, a lot of people still do all the topstitching by hand.” The women come together as a community to quilt, sing and tell stories, Grantham said, “and that’s also a part of this.”
In The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, Essie Bendolph Pettway, Mary Lee’s daughter, says her brother went to college on earnings from their mother’s quilting. For Essie, quilting is a pastime. Sitting at her sewing machine, she says “I love my quilts when I make them. They be beautiful to me.”
And it is gratifying, she adds, “to think that I did some work that somebody thought was good enough to put on a wall.”
In 2003, about 50 quilters, with the assistance of Tinwood Alliance, a nonprofit foundation supporting African-American vernacular art, formed the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective to market their quilts. Proceeds are shared by members of the collective, although some quilters also sell their work independently. Many quiltmakers have made repairs to their homes, bought appliances and donated money to their church with their earnings.
Nonetheless, Gee’s Bend (officially called Boykin, Alabama) remains economically depressed, said Herman. “They don’t just lack money, they lack the basic services.”
One reason has been its isolation. Forty-five miles from Selma, it is bounded on three sides by a bend in the Alabama River. It is an hour’s drive to Camden, the county seat and nearest place for supplies, schools and medical services. In 1962, white local authorities shut down the ferry to Camden to prevent blacks from registering to vote. Most didn’t have cars at the time. For economic reasons, the ferry service was not restored until November 2006.
Despite these circumstances, or perhaps inspired by them, Gee’s Bend quilts are “one of the most remarkable artistic practices in the United States today,” said Herman. “I’ve looked at between 800 and 900 quilts. I’ve never seen two the same.”
“What a great thing it is for [the quiltmakers] to receive this type of critical success and attention at this point in their careers,” after lacking “the material resources many Americans benefit from,” Grantham told USINFO.
“Out of necessity, the women of Gee’s Bend made these really beautiful objects that weren’t necessarily art for them, but were ways to keep warm,” said Grantham. “I think it’s a very triumphant story of perseverance and faith and creativity.”
The exhibition concluded it's run in the summer of 2007, but you may read more about the exhibition of Gee’s Bend quilts, which traveled to seven U.S. cities, on the Web sites of The Walters Art Museum and the Tinwood Alliance. The exhibition was sponsored by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Tinwood Alliance. The Walters exhibition (June 15-August 26, 2007) included a gallery of 25 photos by Baltimore resident Lynda Day Clark taken in Gee’s Bend.
See U.S. Postal Service press release with photos of Gee’s Bend stamps.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov
Saturday, May 10, 2008
NOVA documentary about Percy Julian wins AAAS Science Journalism Award
The grandson of Alabama slaves, Julian received a doctorate in chemistry in 1931 and went on to successfully synthesize an alkaloid called physostigmine, which was used to treat glaucoma -- a disease responsible at the time for 15 percent of all cases of blindness in the United States. Hired by Glidden, a manufacturer of paints and other products, he became the first black chemist to direct a chemical research laboratory. In that role he filed more than 100 patents, working with the soybean plant to develop dozens of products, from water-based paints to paper coating to protein-rich foods.
Among Julian's most significant scientific accomplishments is his work with steroids. Using stigmasterol, a plant steroid produced by soybeans, Julian was able to produce the pregnancy hormone progesterone affordably and in bulk, an achievement that helped launch the steroid industry, whose products would eventually include cortisone and the birth control pill.
By 1953, Julian had decided to leave Glidden and form Julian Laboratories, where he continued in his scientific work while establishing his lab as a haven for other black chemists, hiring more of them than any other company in America. He later sold his business for $2.3 million, becoming one of the wealthiest black entrepreneurs in the nation.
He continued to work on behalf of both science and civil rights, surviving death threats and an arsonist's attempt to burn down his house. Meanwhile, he mentored young African-American scientists and worked with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund to bring about change in the lot of the black man in America. By 1973, he had reached a new milestone - being elected to the National Academy of Sciences - only the second African-American to become a member.
One of the challenges in developing this project was that no biography existed of Julian's life. Producer Stephen Lyons and Director Llewellyn Smith - both winners of the SJA -- were initially daunted by the fact that little written information about Julian existed, beyond a couple of articles and some scattered press clippings.
"This was hardly enough to base a two-hour program on," says Lyons. "And it meant that before we could even think about making a film, we'd have to do the kind of original research that normally goes into writing a book."
Although Julian had died in 1975, many of the people who worked with and for him were still living. So began a comprehensive effort to document the life and accomplishments of this man.
The program Web site at pbs.org/wgbh/nova/julian/ has information on Julian's scientific and career milestones as well as audio excerpts from a speech he gave in 1965, and audio interviews with people who knew him and worked with him. Visitors to the site can also follow the chemical steps involved in building a steroid and see examples of the life-saving drugs developed from ingredients in nature.
"Forgotten Genius" is one of a series of programs on the lives of scientists funded by NSF.
"'Forgotten Genius' not only gives the public a greater understanding of the scientific concepts behind Julian's significant discoveries," says NSF program director Valentine Kass. "It also tells the compelling story of a man of great intellect, personal courage and tenacity. We are proud of its contributions to the Lives in Science series." ###
Since their inception in 1945, the AAAS Science Journalism Awards have honored more than 300 individuals for their achievements. The winning journalists have helped to foster the public's understanding and appreciation of science.
Contact: Maria C. Zacharias mzachari@nsf.gov 703-292-8070 National Science Foundation
Friday, May 9, 2008
More attention should be given to African American hair care needs
Jeffrey J. Miller M.D. Associate Professor of Dermatology | Hershey, Pa. -- Hair straightening, long-term braids and frequent washing may be damaging to African American hair, and dermatologists need to be more aware and understand these differences according to a researcher at Penn State's College of Medicine. "African Americans have different hair care regimens and scalp problems compared to White-Americans," says Jeffrey J. Miller, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and a dermatologist at the Hershey Medical Center. "The purpose of this clinical research is to ultimately better serve patients. |
Miller's presentation titled, "Clinical Relevance of Hair Care in African Americans," was given today (March 12) at the American Academy of Dermatology annual meeting in San Francisco.
There is very little published or talked about concerning the differences in dermatology literature, he notes. "African Americans hair, in general, tends to be curly and dry. If curly hair is relaxed improperly, hair shaft damage can occur. The dermatologist needs to have a background in this type of hair care practice," Miller says.
Products like relaxers are fine when used correctly. Miller reports that products that relax or straighten the hair do so by opening up the cuticle of the hair, and then rearrange the bonds that go into the hair. This process can be damaging and weaken the hair shaft.
In addition to hairshaft fragility from improper relaxing, Miller also reports that another common problem is traction alopecia. "When people braid their hair too tightly, the constant tension on the hair can cause hair loss which can be permanent. Braids often need to be loosened, and hair should be rested by removing and redirecting the tension on the braids every two months," says the Penn State researcher
African Americans generally shampoo their hair less frequently than other ethnic groups, usually once or twice per week, Miller notes. If a dermatologist recommends that a patient shampoo daily, their credibility is undermined because they did not understand the needs of the patient. Because the hair is drier, shampooing more often would damage the hair, he says.
"I do know since I have been doing this research the past few years, I have a better understanding of their hair and scalp needs," says Miller.
His presentation covers hair care regimens of African Americans, treatment regimen for cosmetic alopecia or other clinical problems and a reference guide to certain hair styling terms. ###
Contact: Leilyn Perri lperri@psghs.edu 717-531-8604 Penn State
Thursday, May 8, 2008
African-American Issues in Presidential Election
Shaw is the author of "Unconventional Wisdom: Facts and Myths About American Voters," forthcoming from Oxford University Press. He worked as a strategist in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections and serves on the national decision team for Fox News.
Learn more about the 2008 American National Election Study.
For more information, contact: Jennifer McAndrew, College of Liberal Arts, 512-232-4730; Tasha Philpot, Center for African and African American Studies, College of Liberal Arts, 512-232-3681. University of Texas at Austin
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Dr. Charles Richard Drew, M.D., C.M., MED. D.Sc.
Dr. Charles Richard Drew, M.D., C.M., MED. D.Sc. - Professor Of Surgery, Howard University, Chief Surgeon, Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1943
ARC Identifier: 535693, Local Identifier: 208-COM-230
Creator: Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. News Bureau. (06/13/1942 - 09/15/1945) ( Most Recent) Type of Archival Materials: Photographs and other Graphic Materials.
Level of Description: Item from Record Group 208: Records of the Office of War Information, 1926 - 1951. Location: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001 PHONE: 301-837-3530, FAX: 301-837-3621, EMAIL: stillpix@nara.gov
Production Date: 1943. Part of: Series: Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons Promoting the War Effort and Original Sketches by Charles Alston, ca. 1942 - ca. 1945. Scope & Content Note: Dr. Charles Drew - with biographical paragraphs.
Charles Richard Drew was born on June 3, 1904 in Washington D.C. to Nora and Richard Drew. Drew attended Meads Mill Elementary School,and began working as a paperboy selling copies of the Washington Times and Herald while attending school. Instead, he found work at construction sites. In 1918, he enrolled in Dunbar High School.
Dunbar was a segregated high school that had a reputation for being one of the strongest Black public schools in the country. He also was an athlete. Drew’s athleticism won him a partial scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts. Drew’s sister, Elsie who was ailing with tuberculosis, died of pandemic influenza in 1920. This loss is said to have influenced him to study medicine.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Charles R. Drew SEE FULL License, Credit and Disclaimer
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Closing the achievement gap in math and science
Latest results from Math and Science Partnership program show gains for Hispanic and African-American students.
The latest results from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program show not only improved proficiency among all elementary and middle school students, but also a closing of the achievement gaps between both African-American and Hispanic students and white students in elementary school math, and between African-American and white students in elementary and middle-school science.
Since 2002, the MSP program has supported institutions of higher education and K-12 school systems in partnering higher education faculty from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines with K-12 teachers. Through the program, STEM faculty provide professional development and mentoring to math and science teachers to deepen their content knowledge in their field of expertise--all with the goal of better preparing students in these subjects.
Similar analyses were conducted for MSP middle schools. Math scores were drawn from 151 schools within MSP projects focused on math improvements and representing about 95,000 students while science scores were drawn from 51 schools within MSP projects focused on science improvements and representing about 9,500 students. While both math and science scores went up in all subgroups, results were the most pronounced among African-American science students; the percentage of students performing at or above proficient rose from 15.9 percent to 23.5 percent over the period, and this closed the achievement gap with white students.
"I'm happy to see that schools' involvement in MSP projects is continuing to have a positive impact on student proficiency results," says NSF program director Dan Maki. "We're particularly excited about the progress being made among Hispanic and African-American students, as closing achievement gaps--while improving achievement for all students--has been a goal of the MSP program since its inception. We continue to monitor data for participating high schools, but we aren't seeing trends yet."
Currently, MSP projects are actively engaged in determining which strategies most strongly correlate to improved student performance. For example, the Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership, led by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has a major objective of developing district- and school-based teacher leaders and distributing their expertise across Milwaukee's schools. The project has studied how often the teacher leaders effectively spend time with other teachers and strongly connect with networks of teachers, and found that schools in which teacher leaders play important roles demonstrate stronger student achievement results in mathematics. ###
Contact: Maria C. Zacharias mzachari@nsf.gov 703-292-8070 National Science Foundation
Monday, May 5, 2008
Penn State acquires important Blockson Collection
Charles Blockson, a 2007 Penn State Distinguished Alumnus, began collecting historical items related to African-Americans as a fourth-grader, at first searching through Salvation Army and Goodwill shelves before graduating to more serious collecting venues like antiquarian bookstores. Blockson has devoted his life to research, scholarship and collecting and preserving significant materials related to African-American history, following in the footsteps of some great African-American collectors, including David Ruggles, James W. C. Pennington, his ancestor William Still, Dorothy Porter Wesley and Arthur A. Schomburg.
Over the decades, Blockson has traveled extensively to acquire rare African, African-American and African Caribbean publications -- some dating back to the 16th century -- forming not one but two great collections in the process.
In 1984, he donated to Temple University the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American History Collection. More recently, but no less actively, Blockson has formed a second collection on black history, which now forms part of Penn State’s Special Collections Library. The Penn State collection focuses not only on African-Americana, but more broadly documents the African Diaspora, the pattern of human migration that reaches back hundreds of years and traces the movement of blacks from their African homelands to areas around the world, most notably in South America (Brazil and Guyana, for example), the Caribbean and the United States. Both the Temple and Penn State collections are considered among the best African-American historical collections in the country.
Cataloging of the Blockson Collection began in the fall of 2007. The Charles L. Blockson Room is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursdays or by appointment. In the fall, the University Libraries will initiate more active service in support of this valuable resource. Inquiries and requests for materials may be directed to the Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, at (814) 865-1793 or at libraries.psu.edu/speccolls/ online. Researchers may search the growing holdings of the collection by choosing the Advanced Search in the CAT, selecting Special Collections in the "In Library" box and then choosing "Rare Books & Mss," "Blockson Collection" and "Blockson Collection Vault" in the location box
Also running is a display in the Social Sciences Library, second floor, Paterno Library, "Charles L. Blockson's Quest to Document Black History." The exhibit will highlight selected items from the collection and provide information to patrons who may be interested to visit the Blockson Room. For reference help, to make an appointment or more information, contact Sylvia Nyana at (814) 865-8864 or san17@psu.edu.
Contact: Catherine Grigor cqg3@psu.edu WEB: libraries.psu.edu 814-863-4240
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Pitt Study Finds Inequality in Tobacco Advertising
African-Americans more likely targets for pro-tobacco media messages PITTSBURGH, August 20, 2007 — Compared with Caucasians, African-Americans are exposed to more pro-tobacco advertising, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study published in this month’s Public Health Reports. |
“This review and meta-analysis demonstrates that African-Americans are indeed disproportionately exposed to pro-tobacco mass media messages in terms of both concentration and density,” said Brian A. Primack, M.D., Ed.M., senior author of the study and assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “These findings will help us develop interventions and further research aimed at reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”
In the study, Dr. Primack and colleagues evaluated data from both predominantly African-American and Caucasian markets using studies from peer-reviewed journals. By extracting the number of total media messages the number of tobacco-related messages, and the number of residents living in each market area, they were able to calculate the concentration and density of tobacco advertising in each market.
Concentration of tobacco advertising can be defined as the number of tobacco advertisements divided by the total number of advertisements. “According to our data, the concentration of pro-smoking signage is approximately 70 percent higher for African-Americans ,” said Dr. Primack. “Our results also showed that there are about 2.6 times as many advertisements per person in African-American areas as compared to Caucasian areas.”
The findings, Dr. Primack notes, suggest that African-Americans may be special targets of the tobacco industry.
“This population may require specific public health interventions to counter the effect of unbalanced pro-tobacco promotion. Knowing that they may be targeted could motivate African-Americans to refuse to fall prey to industry tactics and help them avoid smoking,” he said.
The study authors point out important limitations worth noting. In particular, the studies that met criteria for inclusion in this review focused on older forms of advertising and promotion such as billboards and magazines. This suggests that additional research is needed on current media portrayals of smoking, such as tobacco promotions and smoking in films.
Co-authors of the study include James E. Bost, Ph.D., and Michael J. Fine, M.D., M.Sc., both from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Stephanie R. Land, Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Dr. Primack was supported by a Physician Faculty Scholars Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a career development grant from the National Cancer Institute and a grant from the Maurice Falk Foundation. Dr. Fine was supported in part by a career development award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is considered among the nation’s leading medical schools, renowned for its curriculum that emphasizes both the science and humanity of medicine and its remarkable growth in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support, which has more than doubled since 1998. For fiscal year 2005, the University ranked seventh out of more than 3,000 entities receiving NIH support, with respect to the research grants awarded to its faculty.
The majority of these grants were awarded to the faculty of the medical school. As one of the university’s six Schools of the Health Sciences, the School of Medicine is the academic partner to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Their combined mission is to train tomorrow’s health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care.
Contact: Gloria Kreps KrepsGA@upmc.edu 412-647-3555 University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Shades of black Skin tone outweighs education for African Americans seeking jobs
"The findings in this study are, tragically, not too surprising," said Harrison. "We found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor's degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned black male with an MBA and past managerial positions, simply because expectations of the light-skinned black male are much higher, and he doesn't appear as 'menacing' as the darker-skinned male applicant."
While there have been other studies of effects of colorism socially, this is the first study designed specifically to examine how it operates in hiring and in the workplace.
In America especially, Harrison says, when people think of race or race relations they commonly think of black and white. In fact, skin tone differences are responsible for increasing differences in perceptions within standard racially defined groups such as "blacks." This diversity within races based on skin complexion has a long history but only recently have researchers begun to understand what these differences can mean.
Participants in the study that Harrison, himself an African American, directed for his master's thesis included 240 undergraduate students at the University of Georgia, some of whom participated in the study voluntarily, while others got class credit for their involvement. While there were a disproportionate number of females in the study (72 percent), this was due to the high percentage of women majoring in psychology at UGA and was adjusted for in reporting the research.
Each student was asked to rate one of two resumes that came with one of three photographs of a theoretical job applicant (one man, one woman) whose skin color was either dark, medium or light. Harrison manipulated the skin tones of the applicants with Adobe Photoshop so facial characteristics could not be included in how the students rated the job applicants.
"Our results indicate that there appears to be a skin tone preference in regards to job selection," said Harrison. "This finding is possibly due to the common belief that fair-skinned blacks probably have more similarities with whites than do dark-skinned blacks, which in turn makes whites feel more comfortable around them."
Harrison refers in his paper to numerous studies that show that light skin is almost universally valued among all racial groups. Hierarchies based on light skin are prevalent in Hindu cultures in India, for example, and in Asian and Hispanic cultures as well.
"While the respondents in this study were University of Georgia students, we think we would find the same response no matter where such a study was done in the country," said Thomas. "When you consider that probably no more than 1 percent of industrial and organizational psychologists are black, you can see why a study like this just hasn't been done before regarding colorism in the workplace. There are real-world consequences to these issues."
Harrison said he was surprised that skin hue was even more important than education in evaluating job applicants.
"Given the increasing number of biracial and multiracial Americans, more research similar to this study should be performed so that Americans can become more aware of the prevalence of color bias in our society," he said. "The only way we are going to begin to combat some of the inequities that result due to the beliefs and ideologies that are associated with colorism is by becoming more aware of the prejudices we have regarding skin tone due to the images we are exposed to on a regular basis."
Society, he said, equates lighter skin with attractiveness, intelligence, competency and likeability, while we are often given a "much more dismal and bleak picture" of those who have darker skin.
"The more we challenge these images and our own belief systems," said Harrison, "the greater the likelihood we will judge an individual by his or her actual merit rather than skin tone." ###
The Academy of Management is a leading professional organization for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations. Founded in 1936 by two professors, the AOM is the oldest and largest scholarly management association in the world. Today, the group has more than 16,000 members from 97 nations.
Contact: Kim Carlyle kcarlyle@uga.edu 706-542-8083 University of Georgia by Philip Lee Williams phil@franklin.uga.edu
Friday, May 2, 2008
'Living While Black' index measures variety of stress factors for African Americans VIDEO
Penn State researchers have developed a Living While Black index, which combines the impact of economic, social and health factors affecting African Americans. |
"There are many previous studies on the impact of health, economic, sociological and criminological factors separately," said Gabbidon. "But this study tries to determine whether being Black in America exacts a 'social cost' by being exposed to several stressors that can severely affect the quality of life among Black Americans."
The Penn State researchers constructed a Living While Black index that includes state-level comparisons of Black poverty rates, the number of Black prisoners, the lack of access to health care, homicide rate, infant mortality rate, business earnings of African American-owned firms, and the percentage of non-elderly who are uninsured.
A Quality-of-Life index was also developed: including chronic drinking problem data by state, mental health problems, suicide rate, and shorter life spans.
Using the two indexes, the researchers found that the Blacks' quality of life was negatively affected by the economic factors (Black-owned businesses' sales and the poverty rate) and by death factors (the infant death rate and the homicide rate). But their research also reported that religiosity served as a buffer and reduced the impact of the stressors.
For African American businesses, we may need to study further the relationship between difficulty in business ownership and life stresses such as drinking and mental health problems. It could be that these outcomes are the products of the difficulties of obtaining funds to run their businesses effectively. Such relationships, which are the products of data from state-level measures, warrant additional investigation, Gabbidon noted. "In the interim, though, states might investigate the level of discrimination claims involving bank loans to Black businesses, and whether state commerce agencies are making appropriate levels of support available to new Black businesses," he added.
The number of Black prisoners and the uninsured Black residents who are not elderly were not linked to a negative quality of life, according to the researchers. They said it is likely that African Americans have "normalized" not having health insurance, therefore, it brings on little stress. Moreover, since Blacks, in the short term, are likely more concerned about being arrested than going to jail, they are likely not as stressed as one would anticipate.
The linkage between poverty and economic disadvantage and serious crimes is not new, but the Penn State study strongly illustrates the relationship.
Gabbidon noted, "States may need to invest in community-level programs aimed at keeping at-risk youth away from criminal activities. In addition, adequate levels of alcoholism and mental health counseling services will be necessary. Our research makes it clear that the comprehensive 'Living While Black' stress factors pose a substantial public health issue for all states. Coordinated public health strategies at the economic, health and social levels will pay for themselves over the long run."
###
Contact: Steve Hevner sdh4@psu.edu 717-948-6029 Penn State
Thursday, May 1, 2008
African-Americans have 5 times higher amputation rate
CHICAGO – The overall amputation rate in northern Illinois is declining due to improved care for diabetes and peripheral vascular disease, new research shows. But not everyone is reaping the benefits.
A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine has found people in African American communities on Chicago’s South and West Side have a five times higher rate of lower limb amputations than people in the predominantly white suburbs and exurbs.
“Amputations are the canary in the coal mine for quality of care," said Joe Feinglass, lead author and research professor of medicine at the Feinberg School. “Many amputations are preventable. This means the primary care for minority people may not be very good. "
The high amputation rate is linked to lack of access to primary care and specialty care for diabetic patients and patients with vascular disease. In addition, patients without diabetes may not get a screening for peripheral arterial disease, an inexpensive test to indicate risk factors for circulation problems.
To address these problems, Feinglass said communities need diabetes management programs with nurses to help people control their blood sugar.
"Those are the kinds of programs we know would pay off in the inner city. When blood sugar is lower, there is a lower amputation rate," Feinglass said. Vascular surgeons and podiatrists are also needed in these areas.
"An amputation is a horrible thing to have anybody go through," Feinglass said. "We have to do better at preventing these." ###
Contact: Marla Paul Marla-Paul@northwestern.edu 312-503-8928 Northwestern University
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
New analysis shows three human migrations out of Africa
Replacement theory 'demolished' - A new, more robust analysis of recently derived human gene trees by Alan R. Templeton, Ph.D, of Washington University in St Louis, shows three distinct major waves of human migration out of Africa instead of just two, and statistically refutes –strongly – the 'Out of Africa' replacement theory.
Templeton's analysis is considered to be the only definitive statistical test to refute the theory, dominant in human evolution science for more than two decades.
"Not only does the new analysis reject the theory, it demolishes it," Templeton said.
Templeton published his results in the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 2005.
He used a computer program called GEODIS, which he created in 1995 and later modified with the help of David Posada, Ph.D., and Keith Crandall, Ph.D. at Brigham Young University, to determine genetic relationships among and within populations based on an examination of specific haplotypes, clusters of genes that are inherited as a unit.
In 2002, Templeton analyzed ten different haplotype trees and performed phylogeographic analyses that reconstructed the history of the species through space and time.
Three years later, he had 25 regions to analyze and the data provided molecular evidence of a third migration, this one the oldest, back to 1.9 million years ago.
"This time frame corresponds extremely well with the fossil record, which shows Homo erectus expanding out of Africa then," Templeton said.
Templeton said that the fossil record indicates a significant change in brain size for modern humans at 700,000 years ago as well as the adaptation and expansion of a new stone tool culture first found in Africa and later at 700,000 years expanded throughout Eurasia.
"By the time you're done with this phase you can be 99 percent confident that there was recurrent genetic interchange between African and Eurasian populations," he said. "So the idea of pure, distinct races in humans does not exist. We humans don't have a tree relationship, rather a trellis. We 're intertwined." ###
Contact: Tony Fitzpatrick tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu 314-935-5272 Washington University in St. Louis
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Blacks who kill whites are most likely to be executed
COLUMBUS , Ohio – Blacks convicted of killing whites are not only more likely than other killers to receive a death sentence – they are also more likely to actually be executed, a new study suggests.
But the findings showed that African Americans on death row for killing nonwhites are less likely to be executed than other condemned prisoners.
David Jacobs | “Examining who survives on death row is important because less than 10 percent of those given the death sentence ever get executed,” said David Jacobs, co-author of the study and professor of sociology at Ohio State University.“The disparity in execution rates based on the race of victims suggests our justice system places greater value on white lives, even after sentences are handed down.” |
He conducted the study with Zhenchao Qian, professor of sociology at Ohio State, Jason Carmichael of McGill University and Stephanie Kent of Cleveland State University. Their results appear in the August 2007 issue of the American Sociological Review.
The study examined outcomes of 1,560 people sentenced to death in 16 states from 1973 to 2002. These 16 states were chosen because they had the complete data that the researchers needed for the study.
Other research has shown that the great majority of those sentenced to death have their sentences overturned in appeal, Jacobs said. But little is known about the factors that lead some condemned prisons to be executed. There is more than a two-fold greater risk that an African American who killed a white person will be executed than there is for a white person who killed a non-white victim. | “The fact that blacks who kill non-whites actually are less likely to be executed than blacks who kill whites shows there is a strong racial bias here,” Jacobs said. “Blacks are most likely to pay the ultimate price when their victims are white.” |
Hispanics who killed whites were also more likely to be executed than were whites who killed non-whites, the study showed. But the risk of execution were not as strong for Hispanics who killed whites as they were for blacks who killed whites.
The study also reinforced findings by Jacobs in previous studies. He found that the likelihood of a legal death penalty was greater in states with higher proportions of black residents, an ideologically more conservative population, and in states where there was greater support for Republican candidates.
In the most recent study, Jacobs finds that execution probabilities increase in states along with the population of African Americans, up to a point. But when the population of blacks reaches about 16 percent of the population, executions start to decrease. Probably at that point, African Americans have enough votes and political influence within a state to reduce the number of executions, Jacobs said.
Various other political and state-level factors also played a role in the use of the death penalty in the states studied. States with more conservative citizens were more likely to execute, as were states that had higher percentages of voters who supported Republican presidential candidates.
“Republican presidential candidates often run on law and order platforms, so it is not surprising that the success of these candidates goes along with support for the harshest punishment,” he said.
“Overall, we found that our justice system is not colorblind, even after offenders are put on death row,” Jacobs said. “White lives are still valued more than black ones when it comes to deciding who gets executed and who does not.”
The study was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Contact: Jeff Grabmeier Grabmeier.1@osu.edu 614-292-8457 Ohio State University
Monday, April 28, 2008
Fear of Messing Up May Undermine Interracial Contact
Jennifer A. Richeson, Ph.D. Associate Professor Social Psychology Office: Swift 119 Phone: (847) 467-1331 E-mail: jriches@northwestern.edu. Research Interests: My research focuses on prejudice, stereotyping, and intergroup relations. Broadly speaking, I investigate the ways in which social group memberships such as race, socio-economic status, and gender impact the way people think, feel, and behave. Some current lines of research include: 1) manifestations of racial bias in mind, brain, & behavior; 2) cognitive, affective, & physiological consequences of "managing" a stigmatized identity; 3) contending with subtle v. blatant racial bias; 4) processes of social categorization. | EVANSTON, Ill. --- Democratic consultant Donna Brazile brought home America’s reluctance to talk openly about race in a New York Times article that preceded the Barack Obama speech that now has the whole nation buzzing. In essence, she said in her quote, any serious discussion about race has the effect of clearing a room. Brazile’s remark and the presidential hopeful’s groundbreaking speech about a subject that politicians generally tiptoe around in public hint at the complexities of race relations in America today. As we approach the second decade of the 21st century, research shows that many Americans feel anxious during interracial interactions whether or not race is even mentioned. Now a provocative new study from Northwestern University suggests that whites who are particularly worried about appearing racist seem to suffer from anxiety that instinctively may cause them to avoid interaction with blacks in the first place. “The Threat of Appearing Prejudiced and Race-based Attentional Biases,” by Jennifer A. Richeson, associate professor of psychology and African-American studies and faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern, and Sophie Trawalter, post-doctoral fellow, IPR, recently appeared in the journal Psychological Science. |
In this case, study participants, 15 white college students, indicated that they were motivated to respond in non-prejudiced ways toward blacks primarily for appearance’s sake because of concern about social disapproval -- rather than because of their internal values.
They then took a standard psychological test that measures attention patterns related to anxiety provoking or threatening stimuli. The white students initially focused on images of black faces with neutral expressions, relative to white faces with similar expressions, and then quickly disengaged and paid greater attention to the white faces.
Participants who were selected for the study first had to complete a Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice Scale. Those who were selected had scores that indicated that they were externally, rather than internally, motivated to not appear racially biased. On a one-to-nine scale, they rated their agreement with statements that included: “Because of today’s politically correct standards, I try to appear non-prejudiced toward black people.”
They then participated in a computer test that featured in all the trials a black face and a white face, with either similar neutral expressions or similar happy expressions. Theoretically, they shouldn’t have paid attention to either of the two faces, one black and one white, appearing on either side of the computer screen, because they were told to keep their attention fixated on a cross in the middle of the screen. But, as expected, they inevitably turned their attention to the faces. Because everything happened so fast, however, they weren’t aware that they had paid different amounts of attention to black faces, compared to the white faces.
When a dot appeared on the computer screen where one of the faces had previously appeared, they had to quickly say whether it appeared on the right or the left side of the fixation point. Finding the dot the fastest was an indication that attention had been directed to the face that had just disappeared from the position where the dot was displayed.
For the shorter trials (30 milliseconds) with the neutral faces, study participants tended to find the dot quickly when it was located behind the black face, which tended to be the initial focus of attention. During the slightly longer trials (450 milliseconds), however, the dot-probe test indicated that they tended to quickly turn their attention away from the neutral black face to the white face with the same expression.
“Think of it as initially turning your attention to something that poses a threat or causes anxiety and then ignoring it because you don’t want to deal with it,” said Richeson. “These low-level psychological processes happen dynamically, and our tests indicate that people probably avoided the neutral black faces because they provoke anxiety, not necessarily because of racial animus.”
Patterns of attentional biases were eliminated when the faces were smiling. Well-established clinical and cognitive psychology research shows that people process expressions of emotion quickly, and presumably black male faces with smiling expressions did not seem threatening or provoke anxiety.
The article cites a similar study that tested how children with chronic pain responded to pain-relevant words. In short trials, they tended to look at the pain-relevant words, and in the longer trials they avoided them.
Richeson’s study draws from a body of such clinical psychology research on threat and attention. Basically, that research shows that people who have anxiety about various stimuli in everyday life tend to ignore what is stressing them out, unlike people with clinical anxiety, who tend to fixate on what triggers their anxiety.
Richeson stresses in every class she teaches on stereotyping and prejudice that a solution to a problem often presents another problem. Ironically, her study suggests, standards to create a diverse yet harmonious society may unwittingly be encouraging anxious responses toward blacks.
Contact: Pat Vaughan Tremmel p-tremmel@northwestern.edu 847-491-4892 Northwestern University
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Black VLBW babies in NYC more likely to be born in hospitals with high neonatal death rates
"It is important to understand why black very low birth weight infants in New York City are more likely to die in their first month of life than white infants. This study tells us that a big part of that difference can be attributed to the hospital where the baby is born," says lead study author Elizabeth Howell, M.D., of the Department of Health Policy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "It further tells us that we have an opportunity to save the lives of babies and eliminate a significant portion of the black-white gap."
In addition to the disparity in where black and white VLBW babies are born, the authors also found a striking variation in the neonatal death rates for VLBW babies in New York City hospitals. The death rates ranged from 9.6 to 27.2 deaths for every 1,000 births and standardized mortality rates (ratio of observed deaths to actual deaths) ranged from 0.70 to 1.97.
Eliminating the wide variation in death rates could substantially improve the difference in death rates between black and white VLBW babies. In fact, 25 percent of the disparity would be eliminated if the hospitals with the highest neonatal death rates could do as well as the hospitals with an average neonatal mortality rate.
"This study clearly shows that hospital quality is a big part of the reason that very low birth weight babies who are black have such poor survival rates in New York City," said Commonwealth Fund Assistant Vice President Anne Beal, M.D. "These findings hold even when controlling for other factors that contribute to differences in infant mortality. In order to save these babies, we need to find out where the delivery of high quality care breaks down and take steps to make improvements at all hospitals; especially those hospitals with the highest neonatal death rates, which often care for more minority infants."
Researchers reviewed all live births and deaths of infants born in 45 New York City hospitals between January 1996 and December 2001, measuring very low birth weight neonatal mortality rates, or deaths within 28 days after delivery, for the study. They adjusted for outside risks such as prenatal care and the mother's health.
Research funding was also provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities.
The Commonwealth Fund is an independent foundation working toward health policy reform and a high performance health system. FULL REPORT BLACK/WHITE DIFFERENCES IN VERY LOW BIRTH WEIGHT NEONATAL
MORTALITY RATES AMONG NEW YORK CITY HOSPITALS in PDF format.
Commonwealth Contact(s): Mary Mahon Public Information Officer TEL 212-606-3853 cell phone 917-225-2314 mm@cmwf.org Outside Contact Name: Dana Paravati Outside Contact Number: 212-241-9200, Dana.Paravati@mountsinai.org
IMAGE CREDIT: Description Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY Source: self-made, Wikimedia Commons. Date: April 22, 2007 Author: Powership
IMAGE LICENSE: I, the copyright holder (Powership) of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I (Powership) grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Keeping African artifacts in Africa
A University of Calgary researcher has established the first museum of its kind in Mozambique as a way to help stop the excavation and permanent removal of artifacts from history-rich communities in Africa while engaging the local population in Western and African academic research—two initiatives that should have started long ago, according to U of C archaeologist Julio Mercader and Arianna Fogelman, a Boston University PhD student.
Mercader was inspired to construct the museum, only the second museum in the country’s province of Niassa, after finding a cave located up a steep cliff overlooking Lake Niassa, which contained 1,000-year-old ritual bowls. The bowls were used as ancestral offerings when boys were taken to the cave for circumcision rituals.
More local content for the museum was produced in the summer of 2007 when Mercader’s team travelled to 25 villages near the museum and digitally recorded the oral traditions—personal histories, migration narratives, folktales, songs, etc.—of more than 200 people. The resultant 66 hours of sound and video files are archived and accessible to researchers and visitors.
“My greatest accomplishment has been collecting oral histories from a 150-kilometre stretch of the lake coast,” said Fogelman, who is working towards a PhD in socio-cultural anthropology. “Seeing the looks on people's faces when their stories and songs were played back and being able to share the recordings of one population with another, was extremely gratifying.”
Other socio-economic contributions aimed to alleviate some of the extreme poverty that exists in the communities in which Mercader and his team operate include employing local personnel (the security guard and museum manager both live in Niassa) and helping to build local schools and water pumps.
Mercader collaborated with the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane and Universidade Pedagógica, in Mozambique, for this project. The U.S. government has given $35,000 to support this project through the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation, operated out of the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC and separate funding at the U.S. Embassy in Mozambique.
Other supporters and funders include the Mozambique Ministry of Education and Culture; the Smithsonian Institution; the Canada Research Chairs Program; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Committee; Canada Foundation for Innovation; Eduardo Mondlane University; Archaelogy and Anthropology Department; Projecto Lipilichi Wilderness; government and authorities of Niassa; and Direccao Nacional do Patrimonio Cultural e Monumentos.
Contact: Meghan Sired mssired@ucalgary.ca 403-220-4756 University of Calgary
Friday, April 25, 2008
Alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion higher in African American inner cities
Study begs questions of inner city health
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL – It appears that living in a poor neighborhood with a high concentration of African Americans is associated with greater alcohol availability and promotion – especially malt liquor – according to a recent study by University of Minnesota researchers.
The study found that poor neighborhoods with high concentrations of African Americans had higher homicide rates and significantly greater numbers of off-premise alcohol outlets, 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor in coolers, and storefront ads promoting malt liquor than other neighborhoods. Researchers also found that the average price of a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor was $1.87, or less than a gallon of milk.
Malt liquor is a concern in inner cities because of its cheap price, high alcohol content, association with heavier drinking, and its link to aggressive behavior that can result in public safety issues, said Rhonda Jones-Webb, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study. The cheap price of malt liquor also makes it especially available to inner-city youth, she added.
Researchers then collected information on homicides in the neighborhoods, compiled information on alcohol licenses, and linked them with the addresses of homicides. Observations were also conducted of the availability and promotion of alcohol and malt liquor in off-premise alcohol outlets in the neighborhoods.
“We need to ask ourselves why high alcohol content beverages, such as malt liquor, are more readily available and highly promoted in poor and minority neighborhoods, and how we can mobilize communities to implement effective policies to restrict their sale and promotion,” Jones-Webb said. ###
The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Contact: Nick Hanson hans2853@umn.edu 612-624-2449 University of Minnesota