2003 Conference Abstracts

African Studies Roberto Cordova, Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado Hermon George, Jr., Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado "Cooperation Between People of Color in an Age of Deracia1ization: The Case of the Black/Latino Coalition of the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), c.1982-2002" Much of the analysis of recent Afro-American/Latino relations has centered upon the electoral arena in large urban areas (e.g., Romo, 1990; Browning, Marshall, and Tabb, 1990; Jennings, 1997; Franklin and Seltzer, 2002). The chances for cooperation between these two groups in this setting is said to depend upon political mobilization for economic (e.g., low wage jobs) and political (e.g., government employment) resources. However, in our study, a non-electora1 arena- a university campus -is the locus of a study of a two decades old Afro- American/Latino coalition, the Black/Latino Coalition (BLC). After establishing four factors that account for this coalition's persistence and success (leadership, agenda, adversarial accountability, and absence of direct economic or political competition between coalition partners), a periodization of the BLC's history is offered. The study concludes with a summation of the BLC's major victories and defeats, and of the BLC's success as a measure of the prospects for black/brown cooperation in an age of deracialization. Foster K. Amey, Middle Tennessee State University AFRICAN FEMALE IMMIGRANTS IN THE US LABOR FORCE Several studies have examined the dynamics of labor force participation among immigrants in the labor markets of advanced economies such us the United States, Canada, and Australia. Particular attention has been focused on the role of female immigrants in light of the real and perceived hostile nature of the labor market in these countries to their peculiar positions as women and immigrants. The change in the major sources of immigrants from the Old World to now mostly the Third World has also generated research attention aimed at understanding the occupational attainment of these relatively newer immigrants. However, most work has excluded African immigrants. In this study we propose to examine the labor force activities of female African immigrants in the US. We use data from the 1990 US Census of Population and Housing and the Current Population Surveys for the years 1995-2000. Cheryl Knott Malone, University of Arizona “Partial Records: Interpreting the Circulation Logs of Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, 1909-1910" Historian Christine Pawley's recent work, Reading on the Middle Border (University of Massachusetts Press, 2001), demonstrates how much can be learned by reconciling a public library's original circulation and accession records with contemporaneous census data. However, what can be learned about other locales where the records of the libraries have not survived to such an extent as Pawley found in Osage, Iowa? In addition, what of non-white library users and those who lived outside the library-rich Midwest? This paper seeks to answer such questions using the case of the Colored Carnegie Library (as it was called) in Houston, Texas. Opened in 1909, the library provided a circulating collection for the exclusive use of the city's African American residents. A circulation log for the first nine months of the library's existence has survived, recording which books were borrowed and when and how often. My paper will offer an analysis of the existing records, with contextual background regarding Houston's black residents, and a discussion of the epistemological and methodological issues involved. Joyce Duncan, Hinds Community College Abstracts: “Still Burning and Churning: Academic Jim Crow in Mississippi” Community College Discrimination against Students and Faculty This presentation reports on the experience of an African American community college professor who discovered her dean ordered faculty, in writing, to vote for another candidate to become department chair even though her experience, accomplishments and evaluations by students far exceeded her opponents. She will report on how her supporters have been subjected to acts of retaliation and how she was dismissed from a student disciplinary committee when she pointed out unequal distribution of justice to African American students. Vernon Archer, Jackson State University President Serving as Plantation Foreman to Disenfranchised Faculty at HBCUs This presentation discusses how governance of the Board for the Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in Mississippi creates a “plantation master” role for HBCU presidents. It documents how the Jackson State University president acted to undermine the faculty senate selection process, ignored evidence of falsified or unqualified credentials for top administrators, has tried to ramrod a controversial academic reorganization through deceptive and ethically questionable practices and falsified charges against uncooperative faculty, while the IHL Commissioner overlooked or supported these actions. It discusses the idea, floated by JSU's president, to terminate two of the three public HBCUs in Mississippi in contradiction to the needs of the African American population. Examples of his advocacy of the "good old boy" network, such as excluding faculty from a building-naming committee that decided to name a facility after Senator Trent Lott, a former member of the racist Citizen's Council, is also discussed. Stuart Zisman, Jackson State Activism to Break the Master/Itinerant Professor Relationship The president of Jackson State's chapter of AAUP discusses how faculty accused the Commissioner of the Institute of Learning of being "naive, indifferent or in collusion" about the widespread abuse at Jackson State. He also discusses why they accuse him and other trustees on the board of nonfeasance and malfeasance in addressing it. He discusses aspects of this abuse not covered in presentation #2 and its consequences on faculty's attempt to ameliorate the worst public health status in the United States, which is a dubious distinction held by minorities in Mississippi. Activism by faculty against the IHL Commissioner and trustees is discussed. Panel Presentation, WSSA: 2003 "Still Burning and Churning: Academic Jim Crow in Mississippi" Presenters are: Dr. Joyce Duncan, Hinds Community College Dr. Vernon Archer, President of the Faculty Senate, Jackson State University Dr. Stuart Zisman, President of AAUP, Jackson State. Correspondence can be directed to Dr. Zisman: email: stuart.zisman@ jsums.edu phone: 601-368-2086 fax: 601-368-2081 Abstracts: “Still Burning and Churning: Academic Jim Crow in Mississippi” Dr. Joyce Duncan Presentation #1--Community College Discrimination against Students and Faculty This presentation reports on the experience of an African American community college professor who discovered her dean ordered faculty, in writing, to vote for another candidate to become department chair even though her experience, accomplishments and evaluations by students far exceeded her opponents. She will report on how her supporters have been subjected to acts of retaliation and how she was dismissed from a student disciplinary committee when she pointed out unequal distribution of justice to African American students. Presentation #2--President Serving as Plantation Foreman to Disenfranchised Faculty at HBCUs Dr. Vernon Archer This presentation discusses how governance of the Board for the Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in Mississippi creates a “plantation master” role for HBCU presidents. It documents how the Jackson State University president acted to undermine the faculty senate selection process, ignored evidence of falsified or unqualified credentials for top administrators, has tried to ramrod a controversial academic reorganization through deceptive and ethically questionable practices and falsified charges against uncooperative faculty, while the IHL Commissioner overlooked or supported these actions. It discusses the idea, floated by JSU's president, to terminate two of the three public HBCUs in Mississippi in contradiction to the needs of the African American population. Examples of his advocacy of the "good old boy" network, such as excluding faculty from a building- naming committee that decided to name a facility after Senator Trent Lott, a former member of the racist Citizen's Council, is also discussed. Presentation #3-Activism to Break the Master/Itinerant Professor Relationship Dr. Stuart Zisman The president of Jackson State's chapter of AAUP discusses how faculty accused the Commissioner of the Institute of Learning of being "naive, indifferent or in collusion" about the widespread abuse at Jackson State. He also discusses why they accuse him and other trustees on the board of nonfeasance and malfeasance in addressing it. He discusses aspects of this abuse not covered in presentation #2 and its consequences on faculty's attempt to ameliorate the worst public health status in the United States, which is a dubious distinction held by minorities in Mississippi. Activism by faculty against the IHL Commissioner and trustees is discussed. “Social Security and Minorities” Panel Presentation: Gretta L. Goodwin. Brendan Cushing-Daniels Alicia Puente Cackley Jeffrey Baldwin-Bott U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, DC Lee Cohen Social Security Administration Washington, DC In the recent debate about Social Security reform, some reformers have argued that certain racial groups benefit less than whites from the current system. To address this issue, we compare several

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