Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chelsea Buggs

Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation (Access Restricted)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

History

Committee Chair

Aram Goudsouzian

Committee Member

Beverly Bond

Committee Member

Brian Kwoba

Committee Member

Cookie Woolner

Abstract

This dissertation explores the life, experiences, identity formation, and social activism of Julia B. Hooks, in different historical contexts and states, as she became and demonstrated her self-constructed social identity as the “Moral Matron.” This work adds to late 19th to early 20th century social and cultural histories on elite Black women, by analyzing primary sources such as newspapers, catalogs, speeches, and publications. I argue that Julia Hooks constructed a social identity, promoted Black morality, and refuted what I call Black “place” identities to gain first-class citizenship, respect, and recognition of Black humanity for self- and communal-determinism. However, her social identity was based upon a racial, gendered, and elitist understanding of 19th century Black “upliftment” through character building and respectability politics. This emphasized Hooks’s contradictory nature as her identity and activism promoted Black equality and Black palatability, yet it illustrated her unconscious internationalization and dissemination of white supremacy. Thus, Hooks’s self- and communal-determinist strategies show the inevitable connection between Black equality efforts and white supremacy, which revealed that Black people develop a dual, complex relationship with white supremacy, due to fighting for individual and/or communal rights within a white supremacist world. To provide a framework for my dissertation, this work employs theories of performance, intersectionality, and social identity as well as concepts such as “plantation mentality,” “othermothering,” Black maternalism, and my own formulations of the “Moral Matron” and “place” identities. The “Moral Matron” concept takes center stage to show the nuances of Hooks’s life, intellectualism, identity, and activism. Ultimately, this work delves into the social and cultural ways in which oppression occurs, the impact of this oppression on Julia Hooks and other Black southerners, and how, despite the pervasive and invasive nature of white supremacy, they fought against this oppression to realize their self- and communal-determinist dreams.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

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