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Journal Article 1: Hamlet, J. (1996). Fannie Lou Hamer: The unquenchable spirit of the civil rights movement. Journal of Black Studies, 26, 560–576.

Abstract: This article is a brief biography of the life and work of Fannie Lou Hamer – one of the most influential women in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

Journal Article 2: Jones, A. (2006). Race and the “I Have a Dream” legacy: Exploring predictors of positive civil rights attitudes. Journal of Black Studies, 37, 193–208.

Abstract: In this study, the author looks at the relationship between racial attitudes towards blacks and attitudes towards civil rights.

Journal Article 3: Moore, K. (2008). Class formations: Competing forms of black middle-class identity. Ethnicities, 8, 492–517.

Abstract: This article uses the perspective that race and class stratification are interlocking systems, examining the importance of culture in understanding the relationships between a racialized class structure and identity. Thus, the author presents a cogent account of the ways in which class shapes the articulation of black racial identity.

Journal Article 4: Eichenlaub, S., Tolnay, S., & Alexander, J. (2010). Moving out but not up: Economic outcomes in the great migration. American Sociological Review, 75, 101–125.

Abstract: Between 1910 and 1970 millions of Black southerners migrated out of the South, intent on garnering better work and life opportunities. This article reviews a study of upward mobility using data from the US Census to compare migrants who left the South with their southern contemporaries who remained. The study found that migrants who left the South did not benefit appreciably in terms of employment status, income, or occupational status. These findings, according to the authors, demand a reconfiguration of the conventional wisdom that suggests migrants, particularly Blacks, found substantial opportunity and prosperity as a result of migration.

Journal Article 5: Cooke, A. (2011). Black community, media, and intellectual paranoia-as-politics. Journal of Black Studies, 42, 609–626.

Abstract: This article begins by discussing a particularly contested moment in Black history: the extreme disparity in federal funding of the Apollo 11 moon launch and federal funding for civil rights issues, citing that “in the early 1960s, despite all the nonviolent protests and other activist measures, nothing in the way of education, employment, living conditions, or law enforcement–community relations altered for Blacks” (611). Looking at literary, psychological, cultural, and scientific/technological perspectives, both historical and contemporary, the author explores the issue of “of the post–civil rights “death” of the utility of appeals for full enfranchisement from the federal government and its subsequent impact on Black community life and cultural production” (610). These events led to the rise of sociocultural paranoia as a cultural and political survival tool among Blacks in America, according to the author.

Journal Article 6: Irons, J. (1998). The shaping of activist recruitment and participation: A study of women in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. Gender & Society, 12, 692–709.

Abstract: This article discusses the ways that gender and race intersected and produced varied experiences in women’s recruitment and participation in the civil rights movement of Mississippi. Using 13 interviews with both African American and white women, the author seeks to illuminate the ways that recruitment and participation were racially structured.

Journal Article 7: Robinson, G., & Nelson, B. (2008). Pursuing upward mobility: African American professional women reflect on their journey. Journal of Black Studies, 40, 1168–1188.

Abstract: This article discusses a study conducted to examine the intersections of race, gender, and class as they are experienced by African American women. The authors concentrated on detailing the strategies their informants used to overcome the multiple barriers due to these intersections of social positioning. Their participants pointed to gender as being the major obstacle to upward mobility.

Journal Article 8: Brown, D., & Tylka, T. (2011). Racial discrimination and resilience in African American young adults: Examining racial socialization as a moderator. Journal of Black Psychology, 37, 259–285.

Abstract: This article examines the risks of psychological distress and low levels of well-being among African Americans who experience racial discrimination. The author asks the question of whether racial socialization messages preserved African Americans’ resilience and well-being in the face of discrimination. The author details the results of research among young African American college students to both overall racial socialization messages and also specific messages about race.

Journal Article 9: Roscigno, V., Williams, L., & Byron, R. (2012). Workplace racial discrimination and middle class vulnerability. American Behavioral Scientist, 56, 696–710.

Abstract: The authors have set out to challenge the assumptions that middle class minority workers are protected by their status and thus have a share of significant workplace power. By examining cases of workplace racial discrimination and the vulnerability of middle-class African American workers, they illustrate significant levels of both firing discrimination and day-to-day harassment.

Journal Article 10: Meyers, M. (2004). Crack mothers in the news: A narrative of paternalistic racism. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 28, 194–216.

Abstract: This article examines the ways in which a media focus on “crack mothers” worked to disenfranchise black mothers from their rights and their children. Focusing on a newspaper series, the authors explore this phenomenon using both critical cultural studies and feminist theory. They argue that race cannot be separated from gender and class, and thus media representations that do so are indeed operating from a paradigm of paternalistic racism.