Copyright by Collette-C. Ezelle Chapman-Hilliard 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Collette-C. Ezelle Chapman-Hilliard certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Telling the Lion’s Story: Developing a Measure of Black Consciousness Committee: Kevin O. Cokley, Supervisor Ricardo C. Ainslie Germine H. Awad Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards Dorie J. Gilbert Telling the Lion’s Story: Developing a Measure of Black Consciousness by Collette-C. Ezelle Chapman-Hilliard, B.S.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August, 2013 Dedication This scholarship is dedicated to my family, friends, and mentors. Each of you has unwaveringly supported my aspirations and made sacrifices, known and unknown, to help me realize this milestone in my journey. This is our achievement. Acknowledgements As my graduate career culminates with the completion of this dissertation, I am truly humbled. This experience has presented me with great challenge as well as great reward. I have grown tremendously in graduate school and so many individuals have been a part of my journey, sometimes walking by my side, sometimes serving as a guide, and at other times holding me up. Whatever the role, many people have helped me get to this place and for that I will be forever grateful. First, I express my sincere gratitude to my entire dissertation committee: Drs. Kevin Cokley, Ricardo Ainslie, Germine Awad, Keisha Bentley-Edwards, and Dorie Gilbert. Thank you for your belief in my work and continuous encouragement throughout this process. You all made important contributions in helping me deepen this work and further my development as a scholar. I embarked upon my graduate education with the expressed interest in learning from a scholar who possesses both a great mind and a strong commitment to his students. What I did not know was that I had found not only a mentor but also an "academic parent" in Dr. Kevin Cokley. He is someone who supported my development in multiple areas, and anyone who knows him can recognize his dedication to mentorship, teaching, and scholarship. I reflect on raiding your bookshelves, TAing for your courses, and attending my first ABPsi conference with you as some of my best memories in graduate school. From my entrance interviews to just hours before my final oral, I recall fondly our conversations (and sometimes debates) about a range of topics. Our conversations were riddled with ideas, encouraged authentic reflection, and engendered excitement for v the field (and life in general). Little did I know that several years of conversation like that prepares one well for the world beyond graduate school. I am reminded of all the times you said to me, "I believe you are ready", and I would respond "Really, you think so?" And again, you would calmly respond, "yes, you are ready". Admittedly, I have asked myself after a presentation or a proposal, how did he know I was ready? Though sometimes, I could not really answer that question, what I found most important was your confidence and investment in me. No matter the task or the outcome of the experience, I have never questioned your belief in me. Such an experience was invaluable to my development as a scholar and clinician, and for that Dr. Cokley, I will always be grateful. Dr. Awad, like Dr. Cokley, you have been an "academic parent" to me, giving me just the right push to get things done. I remember spending countless hours in your office talking, grading papers, planning for focus groups and, on many occasions, just having fun. I reflect on those moments knowing that they helped me grow and carry on when I have faced challenges. From planning for major life events to writing results sections, you have been there with guidance, support, and laughter, and I thank you. To Dr. Bentley-Edwards, I remember attending your job talk just before you joined the faculty and I said to myself, "working with her would be awesome". So when you arrived and offered me an opportunity to learn from you, I jumped at the chance. With you, I learned so much about using our work to facilitate community and social change, and now as I transition into my next experience I take those lessons with me with the goal of facilitating change in the communities around me. Thank you for your mentorship and your continued support. vi My UT sisters in psychology, we have supported each other through so many parts of this journey and you have all been an incredible inspiration to me. Brittany Hall- Clark, Andrea Holman, and Bianca Jones, thank you for your listening ears and open hearts. Equally, I must express my appreciation for the entire Cokley Lab. We worked hard and played hard together. From late night meetings preparing for conferences at someone's house to reviewing dissertation or qualifying exam chapters for one another, my connection with each of you helped to keep me grounded professionally and personally. I have developed lifelong friendships and I truly thank each of your for the role you have played (and will continue to play) in my life. And, of course, I must acknowledge my friends from life before graduate school; those who were with me as I was applying for graduate programs, thank you ladies for being my cheering squad and my prayer team. To all of my colleagues and supervisors at the Penn CAPS, past and present, your support and willingness to listen were so important to me, and truly facilitated my continued progress. Kim and Tristan, I appreciated those late afternoon and sometimes midday writing sessions. We gave each other momentum and we all reached the finish line. I thank you all for your support and encouragement. To my dear family, what can I say, you all made this happen. Your prayers, phone calls, hugs, visits, and so much more poured a constant stream of love into to my life. You all believed in me and continuously support my dreams. Mommy, it is hard to find words to say "thank you". You have been there for so much, loving and caring for me every step of the way. I know that I could not have reached this point in my life vii without you and your prayers, nothing like the prayers of a mother. The path that you paved for me and Chloe is one of the reasons I chose to embark upon this journey, you always encouraged us to pursue our passions with purpose and persistence. Thank you so much for instilling this "fire" in me. To my sister, Chloe, thank you for keeping me grounded and laughing. While I know you often wondered, "what is taking this degree so long?", you unwaveringly supported me. Thanks sis for keeping me balanced and knowing just what to say when I needed to hear it. To my husband, Fredrick, you have been my rock. As alluded to in a popular saying about the Seven Dwarfs and graduate school by Ronald Azuma, you have indeed seen me as all of the dwarfs, Dopey, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, and Grumpy but now I suppose someone might call me Doc and that certainly makes me Happy. I cannot express what your love and support has meant to me along this journey, from ironing my clothes to making sure I ate (especially during those late night writing sessions), you have taken care of me. At this point you know just as much about racial identity, Black consciousness, relational-cultural therapy, and multicultural counseling as I do. Thank you for believing in me and sharing in this journey with me. To conclude, many people were a part of this journey, some named and some unnamed, but all equally valuable. I thank God for these people; for these amazing people who listened, advocated, encouraged, compromised, cheered, and prayed for me so I could achieve this degree. I thank God for a faith and a trust that has allowed me to write these words of acknowledgement for this occasion and for the blessings of the wonderful people with whom I will continue to share as my journey continues. viii Telling the Lion’s Story: Developing a Measure of Black Consciousness Collette-C. Ezelle Chapman-Hilliard, PhD The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Kevin O. Cokley This study introduces cultural knowledge as a central element to conceptualizing and measuring Black consciousness beliefs. Through the development and initial validation of a new measure, the Scale of Black Consciousness (SBC), the structural nature of Black consciousness as a function of cultural knowledge was determined using exploratory factor analyses. Relations between Black consciousness, self-esteem, cultural socialization and knowledge, African cultural consciousness, group-based racial identity, and impression management were also assessed to determine validity evidence for the SBC. Further, known-groups validity was determined by examining SBC score means between participants who endorsed taking Black Studies courses as compared to participants who did not endorse taking such courses. This study also provided an analysis of sources of cultural knowledge among participants. ix Previous research provides support for the relationship between Black consciousness and cultural knowledge. The Africentric Theory of Black Personality theoretically highlights the value of culture-centered knowledge (Baldwin, 1981, 1984; Baldwin & Bell, 1985) and the group-based theory of stratum consciousness (Gurin & Epps, 1975; Gurin, Miller, & Gurin, 1980) provides a model for examining group consciousness among historically marginalized groups. Accordingly, cultural knowledge supports the development of Black consciousness through an awareness of and connection to African descent cultural history (King, 2004; Lewis et al., 2006; Shockley, 2007).