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This chapter explores how participating in campus leadership at HBCUs positively affects African American college student experiences. A review of existing research about the benefits of leadership involvement for African American students is followed by a discussion of student leadership at HBCUs. Next, motivations for being involved as leaders are discussed and described. The chapter concludes with recommendations for bolstering student motivations and involvement outcomes, as well as ways to increase African American student leadership at HBCUs. Specifically, this chapter is informed by empirical data gathered during in-depth focus groups with 13 African American student leaders (7 males, 6 women) who occupied leadership roles at their HBCU institutions. Two emergent themes are discussed: (1) playing the game, which spoke to the development of their leadership competencies; and (2) getting something out of it, which focused on building the leadership capital afforded to them as a result of their leadership. Recommendations for bolstering motivations and involvement outcomes for Black leader collegians are described in detail at the end of the chapter to provide insight about best practices of support for this student demographic.

Through a critical viewing of All in the Family and Curb Your Enthusiasm, significant shifts in popular conceptions of racialized others can be identified. All in the Family, represented by the character Archie Bunker, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, represented by Larry David, are deconstructed and contrasted to represent distinct eras in the portrayal of race relationships. All in the Family takes a sanctimonious and judgmental stance toward prejudice that embodies a simplistic conception of race humanized through the defects of Archie Bunker. Curb Your Enthusiasm, in contrast, offers a complex conception of racialized relationships, humanized by the character of Larry David. Comparisons of the two portrayals suggest that (1) conceptions of race have shifted from fixed, definitional and “individualized” contents toward situational, fluid, and ironic ones, (2) this shift parallels transformations in society, and (3) sarcastic and framed narratives of the consequences of interracial relationships and race prejudice have displaced optimistic and challenging portrayals. For their respective eras, each program reflects conceptions of race in popular consciousness.

Purpose – This chapter examines the cultural resources that enable Black single mothers in the United States to handle the burdens of poverty while parenting. Through a Black feminist theory lens, the convergence of the historical traditions, practices and institutions within the Black community are examined as to how they enable Black women to effectively care for their families. Additionally, the cultural strengths of the Black community are highlighted to further elucidate how they help Black women resist the hegemonic perceptions of Black single mothers as unfit.

Methodology – To explain the cultural resources leveraged by Black women in poverty to raise their families, qualitative analysis of the existing peer-reviewed literature focusing on a range of topics specific to the Black community and family were utilized. The United States Census Bureau data were used to describe the target population and to better inform the overall analysis.

Findings – Despite the stereotypes and obstacles faced by single Black mothers in poverty, characteristics specific to the Black community, and Black women in particular, have enabled them to establish communities, networks, and environments that help them care for and raise their children.

Social implications – Attention to the sociohistorical experiences of the Black community and family must be paid in order to understand single-mother family formation within the Black community. Moreover, greater understanding of the cultural strengths of the Black community must be acknowledged in order to better comprehend how single Black women living in poverty are able to effectively sustain families and defy stereotypes.

Originality/value of chapter – Previous analyses of families headed by low-income Black women have often taken a negative, if not judgmental, approach. This analysis takes a different approach. In addition to exploring the structural and historical origins of families headed by low-income Black women, it highlights the strengths born out of the cultural practices and traditions of the Black community and family.

This chapter covers the history of the Standing Conference for Management and Organizational Inquiry (sc’MOI). It develops insights into embodiment conference practices, how critical storytelling was part of our conference work from the beginning, and how the conference community used “ensemble leadership” rather than a hierarchical solo leader, or board-led approach. Sc’MOI existed for 25 years, and disbanded, while still solvent.