Black Girls Swim

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Samantha White

During the early part of the twentieth century, Black girls in the United States attended Young Women’s Christian Associations (YWCAs) where they received instruction in sports and physical activity. Using archival research, in this article I examine the role of swimming in Black girls’ sports and physical activity practices in Northern YWCAs. With a focus on the construction of Black girlhood, health, and embodiment, I trace how girls navigated spatial segregation, beauty ideals, and athleticism. I highlight the experiences of Black girl swimmers—subjects who have often been rendered invisible in the historical and contemporary sporting landscape.

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-47
Author(s):  
Naila Keleta-Mae

In this article I examine the performances of black girlhood in two texts by Ntozake Shange—the choreopoem “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf” (1977) and the novel Sassafras, Cypress and Indigo (1982). The black girls whom Shange portrays navigate anti-black racism in their communities, domestic violence in their homes, and explore their connections with spirit worlds. In both these works, Shange stages black girls who make decisions based on their understanding of the spheres of influence that their race, gender, and age afford them in an anti-black patriarchal world dominated by adults. I draw, too, from Patricia Hill Collins’s work on feminist standpoint theory and black feminist thought to introduce the term black girl thought as a theoretical framework to offer insights into the complex lives of black girls who live in the post-civil rights era in the United States.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 11-33
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Civil ◽  
Zetta Elliott

In this innovative dialogue, Gabrielle Civil and Zetta Elliott consider how their work inside and outside of the academy “opens up space” for Black girls in the United States and throughout the African diaspora. In her performance art and curation, Civil activates the presence and absence of diasporic Black girls and celebrates their creative potential. In her books for young readers, Elliott disrupts literary conventions by centering Black girl protagonists and using the fantasy genre not for escape but empowerment. Linking the critical and creative, this dialogue showcases reflection and embodied knowledge of Black girls and women.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Yli-Piipari ◽  
Janne Santeri Kulmala ◽  
Timo Jaakkola ◽  
Harto Hakonen ◽  
Joseph Cole Fish ◽  
...  

Background:Schools are in a unique position to ensure that all students meet the current physical activity (PA) recommendations. This study aimed to examine 1st to 3rd grade elementary students’ accelerometer measured school day PA in the United States (U.S.) and Finland.Methods:The sample consisted of 200 students (107 girls, 93 boys; ages 6 to 8) and their school day PA was monitored with hip-worn ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers across a 5-day school week and the thresholds 100 and 2296 count per minute were used to separate sedentary time, light PA, and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA).Results:On an average school day, students were engaged in MVPA for 20.0 min in the U.S. and 24.1 min in Finland. Students’ school-day MVPA was 9 to 16 minutes higher during physical education (PE) days compared with non-PE days (U.S: 25.8 vs. 16.6 min/day; Finland: 36.3 vs. 20.1 min/day). Girls had less MVPA and more sedentary time compared with boys in both samples.Conclusion:This study highlights both the role of PE and other school day physical activities in meeting PA guidelines. Policy measures are needed to change the structure of the school day and enhance PA to ensure that students meet the PA recommendations.


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita C. Banerjee ◽  
Kathryn Greene ◽  
Marina Krcmar ◽  
Zhanna Bagdasarov ◽  
Dovile Ruginyte

This study demonstrates the significance of individual difference factors, particularly gender and sensation seeking, in predicting media choice (examined through hypothetical descriptions of films that participants anticipated they would view). This study used a 2 (Positive mood/negative mood) × 2 (High arousal/low arousal) within-subject design with 544 undergraduate students recruited from a large northeastern university in the United States. Results showed that happy films and high arousal films were preferred over sad films and low-arousal films, respectively. In terms of gender differences, female viewers reported a greater preference than male viewers for happy-mood films. Also, male viewers reported a greater preference for high-arousal films compared to female viewers, and female viewers reported a greater preference for low-arousal films compared to male viewers. Finally, high sensation seekers reported a preference for high-arousal films. Implications for research design and importance of exploring media characteristics are discussed.


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