This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture
"This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture" is a weekly podcast produced by the Black and African Diaspora Forum United (BADFU) an interracial group of faculty at Monmouth University concerned about issues pertaining to the Black/African American experience. BADFU members will periodically interview scholars, authors, activists, and community leaders on matters related to the history, society, and culture of Black and African American communities in the United States (U.S.) and beyond. These podcast episodes are on a variety of subjects including, but not limited to, higher education, economics, criminal justice, reparations, mental health, history, science, gender, popular culture, women, and politics. A new episode will be released weekly on Monday mornings from September to May during each academic term.
This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture
Black Beauty: African American Women and Pageant Culture
November 15, 2020
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Black and African Diaspora Forum United (BADFU)
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Season 1
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Episode 11
In this episode, Dr. Hettie V. Williams, Assistant Professor of African American history at Monmouth University, is in conversation with Dr. Shirley Crenshaw, a science professional with several years of experience teaching at the college level, about her life on the pin-up pageant circuit. The vast amount of scholarly literature on pageant culture in the African American experience tends to focus on the American South but Dr. Crenshaw who hails from the Mid-West provides us with a different perspective. This discussion also covers issues of race, gender, and sexuality giving us some insight into how some Black women view life in the pageant world as an identity making resource.