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This study compares filmic and televisual representations of fictional black presidents to white Americans’ reactions to the advent of the United States’s first African American president. My main goal is to determine if there is convergence between these mediated representations and whites’ real-world representations of Barack Obama. I then weigh the evidence for media pundits’ speculations that Obama owes his election to positive portrayals of these fictional heads of state.

The film and television analyses examine each black president’s social network, personality, character traits, preparation for office, and leadership ability. I then compare the ideological messages conveyed through these portrayals to the messages implicated in white Americans’ discursive and pictorial representations of Barack Obama.

Both filmic and televisual narratives and public discourses and images construct and portray black presidents with stereotypical character traits and abilities. These representations are overwhelmingly negative and provide no support for the argument that there is a cause–effect relationship between filmic and televisual black presidents and Obama’s election victory.

Neither reel nor real-life black presidents can elude the representational quagmire that distorts African Americans’ abilities and diversity. Discourses, iconography, narratives, and other representations that define black presidents through negative tropes imply that blacks are incapable of effective leadership. These hegemonic representations seek to delegitimize black presidents and symbolically return them to subordinate statuses.

The purpose of the chapter is to explore perceptions of the Obama presidency among a purposive sample of students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The methodology involved structured focus groups (n = 20) and on-line questionnaires (n = 180).

A majority (72%) felt that the Obama presidency had increased their sense of racial pride and less than half (43%) reported that it had enhanced their confidence in the US political system. Most students rejected the idea of unconditional support for Obama and 45% disagreed that the presidency was “worth the price of the ticket,” that is, worth any cost just to have a black president in office. The majority also agreed that the President must serve all and not any particular racial group. Most of the undergraduates rated his two terms in office as “successful” and many cited racism as a cause of opposition to his initiatives. Most also rejected the notion of color blindness.

Regarding policy priorities, the majority of students felt that it was a good idea to pursue health care reform and most felt that the roll out debacle was “not his fault”; nearly half disagreed with the use of military drones to attack terrorists; 75% agreed with his approach to immigration reform; and 63% agreed with his stance on the same sex marriage.

Research limitations are that non-random sampling was used, which does not allow for generalizations regarding other HBCU or Atlanta University Center students. The study is original in that most research works on perceptions of this presidency have been based on party affiliation or age and ignored perspectives of HBCU students.

Many African Americans cheered the election of President Obama in 2008 with the hope he would cause an easing of the pain of economic and political barriers to collective black progress in America. This chapter assesses the role of President Obama in addressing these issues.

The Presidential Bully Pulpit is presented as a framework for addressing racial inequities. Properly used it can bring keen attention to issues a president deems important for consideration by the American public. Socio-historical texts and secondary data are used.

Data are presented to show how racial discrimination continues to affect African Americans during the age of Obama. These include housing discrimination, employment discrimination, and racial profiling. This chapter shows Mr. Obama has not used the office of the presidency as a bully pulpit for addressing these racial inequities. Rather he has tended to use the bully pulpit to chastise blacks, especially black males.

Also discussed are some promising developments challenging racism that have emerged from his administration, primarily from the Department of Justice, and how President Obama could use the bully pulpit more productively.

This chapter presents a contradiction in the actions of President Obama. While he seldom uses the bully pulpit to push his own legislative agendas or to push toward solutions to relieve racial inequities in society, he does use the bully pulpit to criticize black males.

Many Black women continue to negotiate their way within higher education institutions, which are influenced by social class, race, and gender biases. Several scholars contend that Black women’s objectification as the “other” and “outsider within” (Collins, 2000; Fitzgerald, 2014; Jean-Marie, 2014) is still apparent in today’s institutions yet many persist to ascend to top leadership positions (Bates, 2007; Epps, 2008; Evans, 2007; Hamilton, 2004; Jean-Marie, 2006, 2008). In particular, the inroads made by Black women administrators in both predominantly white colleges (PWIs) as well as historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) depict a rich and enduring history of providing leadership to effect social change in the African American community (i.e., uplift the race) and at large (Bates, 2007; Dede & Poats, 2008; Evans, 2007; Hine, 1994; Miller & Vaughn, 1997). There is a growing body of literature exploring Black women’s leadership in higher education, and most research have focused on their experiences in predominantly white institutions (Bower & Wolverton, 2009; Dixon, 2005; Harris, Wright, & Msengi, 2011; Jordan, 1994; Rusher, 1996; Turner, 2008). A review of the literature points to the paucity of research on their experiences and issues of race and gender continue to have an effect on the advancement of Black women in the academy. In this chapter, we examine factors that create hindrance to the transformation of the composition, structure, and power of leadership paradigm with a particular focus on Black women administrators and those at the presidency at HBCUs. From a review of the literature, our synthesis is based on major themes and subthemes that emerged and guide our analysis in this chapter. The chapter concludes with recommendations for identifying and developing Black women leaders to diversify the leadership pipeline at HBCUs and other institutions for the future.

To locate and assess the significant variables in Obama’s victories and provide a theoretical framework of racism and the racial problematic that explicates why the Obama presidency has been animated by racism and the race problematic.

A demographic profile of Obama’s election is developed in order to assess the results, how different cohorts voted, and explain the critical nuances of why Obama won. A theoretical framework of racism and the race problematic is developed in order to illustrate how racism and the racial problematic function and situate the Obama phenomenon within the critical processes of the American discourse on racism and the fallacy of a post-racial moment. An examination is also made of some of the current trends in how racism continues to define the responses to the Obama public policy agenda.

While Obama was elected and reelected with broad-based support from nearly every voting cohort, racism and the race problematic played out in the campaigns and the general elections, and opposition to Obama’s public policy agenda has been animated by racism.

This assessment argues that a post-racial moment is a fallacy and calls for a rethinking of the theories and approaches to the study of Black politics.

Trumpism seeks to maintain white domination. President Trump's policies aimed to restore white power at a time when it seemed to be in jeopardy. This chapter examines Trump's policy record and its impact on the US Black population, focusing on voting rights, policing, and criminal justice. I also discuss the far right's attack on history curricula and public education, specifically its demonization of Critical Race Theory. These efforts to protect and extend white power are not new. They are based on the principles articulated by the Founding Fathers, who asserted the right of white settlers to control the nation. More recent precedents for Trump's racism include the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who, like Trump, ascended politically by mobilizing white racism. While many have labeled Trumpism a fascist movement, I argue that it is better understood as a precursor to fascism. It represents a continuation of the racist origins and traditions of the United States, where the national oppression of African Americans is core to the operation of capitalism. In closing, I offer a strategic proposal for stopping this reactionary movement and preventing it from developing into a full-fledged fascist movement.

The history of the African American woman in the United States can be described as a struggle for survival and identity within a tripartite of oppression that includes racism, classism, and sexism [Hudson-Weems, C. (1989). The tripartite plight of African American women as reflected in the novels of Hurston and Walker. Journal of Black Studies, 20, 192–207.]. In spite of these challenges, African American women have always considered education an important investment in the future [Gregory, S. T. (1995). Black women in the academy. New York, NY: University Press of American, Inc.)], and despite gender and racial stereotyping that have limited educational opportunities African American females have been inspired to become educators (McFarlin, Crittenden, & Ebbers, 1999). Although African American women are underrepresented in higher educational leadership roles (Ross & Green, 2000; Waring, 2003), little research exploring the development of women leaders in academia, as well of that of existing university presidents, is available (Madsen, 2007). The purpose of this chapter is to explore the career paths of African American university women presidents. This research has important implications to strengthen opportunities to attain these important leadership roles in higher education institutions.

Newspapers provide the context to how the public understands the role of race and gender in America. Both are portrayed commonly as having lost their power. Taking an intersectional approach, here I examine the role race and gender play in black newspaper coverage of Michelle Obama from August 2008 through July 2009. Analyzing 31 papers, gathered from Ethnic NewsWatch, I examine 175 articles, notes, and editorials that addressed the first lady in some capacity. Most narratives highlighted traditional first lady duties, her “family” values and fashion. Female reporters were focused on Obama's values and duties before the election, but emphasized her duties and looks after. Although from December, their reporting was more diffuse, having no particular focus, male reporters also focused on her duties pre-election, but values and looks were relatively unimportant. Race remained an important element in many narratives, especially for male reporters. It was mostly invoked in ways that were ceremonial and abstract, with little attention to the specific plight of black communities. In contrast, female reporters made the intersection of race and gender important (both before and after the election), and Obama's looks (particularly after). Overall, these papers were supportive; and they almost appear in awe of a black family in the White House. As a result, little attention was given to exploring how “change you can count on” would affect black America particularly.