This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture
"This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture" is a monthly podcast produced by Dr. Hettie V. Williams Professor of History in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University. Williams is the author of several essays, articles, book chapters and the author/editor of seven books. Her research interests include African American intellectual and cultural history, women's history, and race/ethnic studies. She is also the former director of the Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture at UMass Boston. Williams periodically interviews 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 the world. 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 monthly 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
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.
