Nineteen Fifty-Six Vol. 5 Issue 2: Multitudes and Southern Charm

SPRING 2025
MULTITUDES
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 1

2 SPRING ISSUE
On the cover: Amayah Shaienne
Photos by Xavier Routt. Edited by Josha Charlery

Dear
Black
Students,
You do matter.
As of Fall 2024, 13.9% of students on campus identified as Black or African
American. Black students are disproportionately underrepresented in various
areas on campus and their numerous achievements and talents deserve to be
recognized.
Nineteen Fifty-Six is a Black student-led magazine that amplifies Black
voices within the University of Alabama’s community. It also seeks to educate
students from all backgrounds on culturally important issues and topics in an
effort to produce socially conscious, ethical and well-rounded citizens.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 3

Editor-in-chief
Managing editor
Co-creative director
Co-creative director
Writing editor
Assistant writing editor
Assistant writing editor
Photo editor
Assistant photo editor
Assistant photo editor
Engagement editor
Public relations manager
Executive multimedia producer
Lead stylist
Contributing writers
Elise Bates, Gabrielle Chukwu, Jazmyne
Isaac, Trinity Jenkins, Kay Maxwell, Kamari
McIver, Arianna Pope, Andrea Tinker, Kendal
Wright, Carrigan Collins, Rihanna Pointer,
Kathryn Jones, Jermaine Ball
Jeffrey Kelly
Jermaine Ball
Kyra Richardson
Lyric Talley
Kay Maxwell
Andrea Tinker
Kendal Wright
Sidney Todd
Grant Sturdivant
Xavier Routt
Heaven Thomas
Victoria Campbell
Jada Ceaser
Zachary Brown
Contributing designers
Lyric Talley, Kyra Richardson, Shelby West,
Arriyana Hayes, Erica Williams, Jeffrey Kelly
Contributing PR strategists and social
media strategists
Bailey Hildreth, Kayla Harmon, Haira Harper,
Erica Williams, Qierstin Merrett, Abigail
Ledford, Jordan Jones, Arriyana Hayes,
Altonio Johnson, Christina Cobbs
Editorial Advisor
Special Thanks
Contributing videographers
and photographer
Samantha White, Olivia Costly,
Jaylin Williams, Melanee Moore, Xavier
Routt, Grant Sturdivant, Brianna
Skelton, Armari Spencer
Monique Fields
Kate DeLay; Joseph King, Gulf States
Newsroom; Ken Roberts; Josha Charlery;
Ryan Cagle
Nineteen Fifty-Six is published by the Office of Student Media at The University of Alabama. All content and
design are produced by students in consultation with professional staff advisers. All material contained
herein, except advertising or where indicated otherwise, is copyrighted © 2025 by Nineteen Fifty-Six
magazine. Material herein may not be reprinted without the expressed, written permission of Nineteen
Fifty-Six magazine. Editorial and Advertising offices for Nineteen Fifty-Six Magazine are located at 176
Hackberry Lane, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. The mailing address is P.O. Box 870170, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487.
Phone: (205) 348-7257.
4 SPRING ISSUE

Editor’s
Note
As a kid, I wanted so badly to be understood by my
classmates, teachers and honestly, anyone I met. I
spent so much time thinking about my palatability
or how I could best articulate or minimize my
experience for others to accept me.
However, I realized that seeking acceptance, validation
and, to some degree, understanding from others wasn’t
something I needed to do. I couldn’t articulate it then because
I was so young and didn’t fully understand myself, but while
those contours of my identity made my counterparts struggle
to relate with me, they are parts of me that I’m proud of.
“Multitudes” and “Southern Charm” are explorations of
the multiplicity of identity and what lies at those intersections.
While to some, intersectionality is nothing more than a
buzzword, as Jazmyne Isaac writes in her article “The spaces
in-between,” understanding how our identities overlap “allows
people to hold space for one another and inspire equitable
practices because when interacting with people or serving a
community, you are serving the whole person, not one aspect
of them.”
Throughout this issue, we discussed how intersectionality
can better help us understand the importance of representation,
bias in the job market, the effects of marginalization on a
national and global scale, and create skewed perceptions of
beauty. One specific intersection we all share currently is our
proximity to the South, which creates unique experiences for
each of us, whether you deem yourself a Southerner or not.
I’ve often heard the phrase, “Black people aren’t a
monolith,” which is true, but I like to think of a quote by Zora
Neale Hurston that takes it one step further, “It is difficult to
discuss what the soul lives by.” Black people aren’t a monolith.
However, no two people have the same experience; the only way
to understand them better is to sit and listen.
- Jeffrey Kelly
The 2024-25 Nineteen Fifty-Six editorial staff. Photo by Jeffrey Kelly
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 5

CONTENTS
12
Reclaiming
the Gaze
How the lack of
representation affects
the Black
queer community.
The Spaces
08 In-Between
Defining intersectionality,
it’s importance and how
to talk about it.
10
Jason Foster on
and off the court
Alabama wheelchair
basketball player Jason
Foster balances his life
as a student athlete.
16
Maneuvering the
Job Market
Addressing the added
difficulties Black people
face while searching for
a job after college.
22
Misogynoir
The intersection
of Blackness and
womanhood results in a
unique experience
of marginalization.
Beyond Beauty
26 Standards
The effects eurocentric
beauty standards have
on the expectations
of beauty.
Appropriation of
34 Black Culture
Examining Black culture’s
influence on mainstream
popular culture in
America and globally.
6 SPRING ISSUE

All About
36 Amayah
Amayah Shaienne on
what it means to be
authentically her.
18
Injustice on a
global scale
An exploration of how
the injustices seen
globally all connect to
other struggles.
Zachary Dej
28
A look at lead stylist
Zachary Brown’s
senior collection and
other designs.
This issue of Nineteen Fifty-
Six magazine is a special double issue
inspired by New York Magazine and the
idea of intersectionality.
When you’re done reading “All
About Amayah,” or how to traverse this
new job market, flip your copy over and
upside down to read the second section,
“Southern Charm.”
“Southern Charm” examines
the past, present and future of the
American South, a place much like the
people who inhabit it, ever-changing
and multifaceted.
We hope you enjoy!
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 7

The Spaces
By Jazmyne Isaac
Intersectionality is a complex framework
that displays how multiple identities like
race, gender, sexuality, class, disability
status, socio-economic status and more
overlap and affect a person’s experiences.
Understanding this framework
allows people to hold space for one another
and inspire equitable practices because
when interacting with people or serving
a community, you are serving the whole
person, not one aspect of them.
This is a sentiment that Catherine
Doughty-Walker, executive director of Jesus
Way Homeless Shelters, understands and
implements every day while working with
the unhoused community.
“In order to be effective in meeting
the need of a person you have to understand
how they show up,” Doughty-Walker said.
“They show up as a whole person and if you
don’t look at the whole of a person, then can
you really fully meet their needs?”
However, intersectionality is not
only a tool for meeting people’s needs, but
it also gives a more complex way to look at
inequities and systems of oppression.
Coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, a Civil
Rights activist and critical race theorist,
in 1989, the term was inspired by Emma
Degraffenreid’s court case against a car
manufacturing plant where Degraffenreid
argued that she was denied a job by the
plant because she was a Black woman.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit
because the car plant had both Black and
female employees, but upon closer look,
those Black employees were only men and
those women were white.
Crenshaw critiqued this single-axis
framework because it only allowed anti
discriminatory work to focus on the most
privileged in subordinate groups. She
produced a metaphor that demonstrated
how various inequalities can compound on
top of each other to create stronger obstacles
outside of traditional understandings
of discrimination.
However, these conversations
concerning an intersectional approach
to addressing oppression didn’t start in
the ‘80s.
According to a University of
Rochester article on “The Roots of
Intersectionality,” “the phenomenon of
intersecting identities and oppressions
was a point of contention within the
feminist movement, leading to the
evolution of Black and Third
World feminism.”
In 1977, almost
two decades before
Crenshaw coined the
term, the Combahee
River Collective, a
Black feminist lesbian
organization based in
Boston, Massachusetts,
released a statement
discussing contemporary
Black feminism, the
organization’s beliefs,
problems organizing
Black feminists and Black
feminist issues.
In the introduction of
the statement, Combahee River
Collective wrote that the “most general
statement” of their politics was their
commitment to “struggling against
racial, sexual, heterosexual, and
class oppression,” and developing an
“integrated analysis and practice based
upon the fact that the major systems of
oppression are interlocking.”
While the text focuses on Black
women, the Combahee River Collective
understood the interconnectedness of
liberation for all marginalized groups.
In her job, Doughty-Walker said
when someone does not make space for the
whole person, it is hard to understand
the barriers that person could
face, limiting someone
from helping them get
to where they need
to be.
Graphic by Kyra Richardson
Sexuality
Racial
Disability
8 SPRING ISSUE

In-between
She said her work has not only
allowed her to serve people
but also check her own
subconscious biases.
In the
academic space,
acknowledging
Identity
Gender
intersectionality allows students
from various backgrounds to get
access to the help they might need.
For instance, for first-generation college
students, while their counterparts might
be well versed in the interworkings of
academia through the guidance of family
members who’ve done it before, they might
be the first to traverse college/university life
which can be daunting.
“We don’t think about the
way that folks from marginalized
groups are showing up, and the
… learning curve of also being
the first in your family to
go to college” said Brooke
Thomas, an assistant
professor of African
American studies.
Thomas said that there
are parts of people’s
lives that include
financial responsibility,
childcare, and
pertinent obligations
that may keep
them from being a
full-time student.
In education help
for students takes on various
forms like TRIO programs,
the Office of Disability Services
and more including some diversity,
equity and inclusion initiatives
which are currently being limited by
new legislation.
According to the Chronicle of
Higher Education’s DEI Legislation
Tracker, there have been collectively
123 bills introduced in 29 states and
the U.S. Congress to prohibit colleges
from “requiring classes to graduate that
promote concepts such as systemic racism,
reparations, and racial or gender diversity,
or from offering student-orientation
Class
programs with such content.”
While the full extent of this is still
being discovered by administrations across
the U.S., at the University of Alabama,
according to the University’s DEI Guidance,
this has materialized in the prohibition
of DEI programs, “applying for or the use
of funding for the purpose of compelling
assent to a ‘divisive concept,’” departments
that promote DEI losing their physical
spaces and more.
For Bryce Schottelkotte, a senior
majoring in political science and the
president of Queer Student Association, this
has been especially disheartening as people
ask where they should go for resources.
“If you live in a society where you very
much identify as cisgender, heterosexual,
white, most of the time, every space is for
you,” Schottelkotte said.
She said for those used to every
space being for them, it’s hard for them
to understand the importance of having a
safe space.
“I’ve had people ask in our group
chat, are there any coffee shops around
here, bookstores that are queer vibes? The
answer is no,” Schottelkotte said.
She said this was disheartneing
because it keeps people from having
anywhere they can feel “100% safe.” She
said another issue is a lack of places to go for
knowledge on topics like intersectionality
or diversity, equity and inclusion which
causes misconceptions on what the terms
mean; they become taboo topics.
“When you make these things
seemingly taboo, then you can’t even learn
about them anymore and then they become
more taboo and it’s just this continuous
cycle of no knowledge being shared amongst
anyone and then we can’t move forward as a
society in any way because we’re so stuck on
this term instead of what all of this actually
entails,” Schottelkotte said.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 9

Jason
On &
Foster
Off the
How Foster balances
his life as a student
athlete with his
experience as a
disabled Black man.
Court
By Kathryn Jones
10 SPRING ISSUE

Being Black and on the disability
spectrum is not atypical. According
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, one in four Black
people report having a disability.
However, this doesn’t stop people
from asking those in the disabled
community to detail their experience.
“The general thing I get asked
about a lot is how is it balancing being
a disabled person and also experiences
as a Black man and how do those kinds of
just like intertwine with each other,” said
Jason Foster, a sophomore player on The
University of Alabama’s Men’s Wheelchair
basketball team.
Oftentimes in society, the Black
experience gets synonymized with struggle.
The disabled Black experience, like any
identity intersectional with Black, gets an
added dose of that stereotype.
The pressure of being perfect as
both a Black man and a disabled man is
something that Foster’s dealt with in his
19 years of life, but being surrounded by
a village of family and friends has since
changed his perspective.
“I try not to think too much about
the problems I’m going to face,” Foster said.
He continued with a lesson that his
mother taught him growing up.
“Just think about what can I bring to
the table, and how can I use my talents and
my abilities to enhance where I’m currently
located,” Foster said. “We as a people have
so much more to offer than what people see
on the outside. So, making sure you’re using
everything, all of my abilities, my speaking
capabilities, my athletic abilities.”
It’s true that there are challenges and
life can take some finagling to make work,
but all in all, the quest is for joy is the same.
It’s Stevie Wonder sitting down at
the piano, Brad Lomax on the asphalt and
Audre Lorde with pen and paper. For Foster,
that’s wheels on hardwood floor and a
basketball in hand.
When looking at the rosters of NCAA
Division I teams, Black student-athletes
are not uncommon. However, on Foster’s
National Wheelchair Basketball Association
(NWBA) team, there are only a handful.
That same hand can be used to tally up all
Black athletes on the court of that Alabama-
Auburn game. For Foster, his passion means
existing in a predominantly white space.
Not a single historically Black college
or university (HBCU) falls on the list of
Intercollegiate Division teams in the NWBA.
That’s why Foster broke the tradition of his
parents by attending a predominantly white
institution (PWI) instead of where his band
activities were at Southern University in
Louisiana or their alma mater Mississippi
Valley State University. No Mississippi
school had a program either.
So, his family’s plan to stay close to
home proved impossible if he wanted to
still play basketball.
“They supported my decision,
because they realized that there was
no HBCU with a wheelchair basketball
team,” Foster said.
Alabama’s Adapted Athletics
recruited him, and he fell in love with the
campus’ accessibility and dedicated facilities
for disabled athletes.
The program’s associate director
Margaret Stran makes sure athletes are
connected with the Office of Disability
Services, electric scooters for wheelchairs,
donations, and everything else they need.
Foster noted not being associated
with the Black student-athlete stereotype.
While he sees that stereotype play out in
stand-up sports, he and his fellow Black
students in adapted athletics do not get the
same notions about them.
“There’s not many of us [Black
athletes in adapted sports]. It’s a level of
accessibility that a lot of people aren’t
introduced to,” he said. “They’re very
accessible for anybody. They’re at every
high school, and you can go to community
college and do it, get scholarships. Versus
[wheelchair basketball] — like it’s very
limited in surrounding areas, and you have
to put the foot forward in wanting to get
into this space.”
Expenses are also a factor for
recreational play for nonprofit NWBA,
Foster mentions of his days in the junior
league as a teen and the scarcity of
sports scholarships.
Today, generic athletic wheelchairs
can cost from $1,000 to $10,000, depending
on the sport. Added costs come from
customization. Besides equipment,
travel and program fees add to the
financial burden.
This is all in addition to the
wheelchairs and disability aids of everyday
life because of the cost, participating
recreationally is not always feasible.
Foster currently uses academic
scholarships and participates in a donorfunded
program. After he graduates
from Alabama, he aims to play wheelchair
basketball professionally and take his
Black joy international.
Jason Foster on the court in Stran-Hardin Arena.
Photos courtesy of UA Adapted Athletics.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 11

Jayda Sin (left) and Chipz-a-W---- (right) posing
in Icon Tuscaloosa, a local queer club
Photos by Brianna Skelton
RECLAIMING
THE GAZE
How the lack of representation for the Black LGBTQ+ affects the
community and the importance of representation for
marginalized groups.
By Carrigan Collins
12 SPRING ISSUE

For many, media representation means
a chance to feel seen on a larger scale.
It is what people look for when they
are young and is often inspiration
for the person they inevitably become.
However, a lack of media representation
can be especially detrimental to those who
don’t have many representations in their
personal lives.
This has been especially true
for Black queer people, who often find
themselves at the intersection of multiple
layers of invisibility, struggling to see
themselves reflected in both their racial and
sexual identities.
“Representation means a lot, just
because there wasn’t a lot for me when I
was looking for it,” said Jayda Sin, a local
Tuscaloosa drag queen. “When I was young,
there wasn’t a whole lot of representation in
shows in real life.”
Sin’s experience is one that
many other queer people of color have
gone through.
For example, in January, singer and
songwriter Lucy Dacus posted a casting
call to TikTok for masculine-presenting
queer people to appear in their upcoming
music video, “Best Guess.” The casting
call requested those interested to post
a video of themselves and tag Dacus’
account, where they would then be later
contacted if selected.
Across the platform, hundreds of
submissions came in, showing a wide array
of different people, but when the music
video was released, viewers were quick to
point out the lack of diversity amongst
the cast.
Despite the range of ethnicities and
queer expressions, viewers and listeners
could not help but feel like Dacus and her
team still catered to a specific audience,
one that did not represent the whole of
the community.
“Why make this big deal about doing
an open casting call to your fans, if you are
just going to feature the same stereotypical
mascs that the media and social algorithms
already highlight and platform all the time
anyways?” One commenter said.
However, while popular media might
fail to show it, Black queer communities
exist across the country.
According to the American Medical
Association, around 40% of LGBTQ+
adults identify as people of color, with 12%
“
identifying as black, meaning there are
around 40 million black and queer people in
the United States alone.
In many spaces, it is not uncommon
to hear anecdotes about what it was
like to grow up as someone who did not
see representation in the media they
consumed. For the Black queer community
in particular, it can be easy to assume that
representation is scarce when all that’s seen
in the media is the same bodies that do not
encompass nor reflect the diversity amongst
the community.
Nabila Lovelace, a professor in the
Gender and Race Studies Department,
said that this media in question should
be challenged.
“There are two folds: one is the truth
of community and the representations that
we see communally and in community, and
then there is the representation we recycle,
which is the representation that we see in
mainstream media,” Lovelace said. “One of
these has a bias in them.”
And this bias is not just about who
is visible, but about how one is made to feel
when they are seen. It is a bias that confines
them to narrow representations of what it
means to be Black, to be queer and to exist
in the intersection of both.
Popular media often limits them
to stereotypes, to a version of them that
fits neatly into what is palatable for a
wider audience. It is the flamboyant
black gay best friend portrayed in shows
and movies, the tragic queer black
character that must struggle with some
life obstacle like addiction or violence,
and the black queer woman whose
queerness can only be expressed through
hyper-masculine stereotypes.
These caricatures, while expected
to be taken as acceptable representations
of the queer black community, serve as
nothing more than hollow representations,
reinforcing reductive narratives that
fail to reflect the true diversity of black
queer identities.
Lovelace said these “hollow”
representations can do more harm
than good.
Yet, when you take look into the
actual communities, the realities of their
lives are richer, more diverse and more
complex than what mainstream spaces
often reflect.
For Christian Roopnarine, a local
drag queen known as Chipz-a-Whore,
representation and visibility was found in
those around her.
“I’m adopted, and my parents aren’t
Black, so for me, it was more of a culture
shock coming to Alabama from Atlanta
because I obviously knew I was Black,
but when you come to areas that are a lot
different from yours, it makes you think
differently,” she said.
Roopnarine said her sister was her
best friend and a great resource for her.
“She taught me how to take care of
my hair, and she helped me really explore
my black side and get in touch with the
culture,” she said. “She really pushed that
you can be yourself and nobody is going to
judge you.”
The sentiment that Roopnarine’s
sister shared was one that Sin agreed with.
“I keep my eyes peeled for
So often we discount
the representation that
is right in front of us,
that are right in our
community.
”
— Nabila Lovelace
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 13

people like me who may also have been
looking for others like them, because I
realize how it’s not just in your face, you
have to look for it,” Sin said. “I try to make it
easier for people like me.”
The visibility sought for exists
within communities, in sharing experiences
and recipes and passed-down advice, and
that is where one can truly feel the most
seen. Within these spaces, where shared
experiences and understandings thrive, one
can finally find a sense of belonging.
“It’s very important for people to
be their most authentic self, because truly,
you don’t know who is watching you from
the shadows. I can’t even tell you how many
times people have come up to me at their
first time at a gay bar and said, ‘you out
there, being yourself gives me confidence to
be myself, and for that reason, I choose to
live my life unapologetically,’” Sin said. “And I
encourage that of everyone, especially queer
black people, because we’re in a country
where we are regularly being stripped of
our merits, so it’s very important for us to
hold each other and uplift each other.”
The reality, however, is that these
feelings of isolation are often the furthest
from the truth. Community does not have
to be sought in the places that are expected
or in the forms people are told matter the
most. It exists where everyone is willing to
look, in reaching out to each other, sharing
and connecting our experiences and letting
one another know that we are here, and
we exist.
“So often we discount the
representations that are right in front of us,
that are right in our community,” Lovelace
said. “There are spaces where particularly
queer endeavors are highlighted, and
there also are places celebrating the fact
that there is a multiplicity of authentic
and rooted queer representation across
spectrums, so where are we looking for this
media? Is it that mainstream is the only kind
of representation that we care about, and
why would that be true?”
The beauty of community lies not in
fitting a predefined mold, but in its organic
existence where shared experiences bridge
the gaps between the worlds of identities
people live in. By seeking out those bonds,
people can discover they were never truly
alone. Representation is already there,
waiting to be found by those who are willing
to seek it out.
14 SPRING ISSUE
“
— Jayda Sin
”
Representation means a lot just
because there wasn’t a lot for me
when I was looking for it.

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1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 15

The Appropriation
of
Black
Culture
Black culture has
been a hot commodity
throughout history and as
social media has gained
popularity, the culture has
become more global.
Graphic by Lyric Talley
By Andrea Tinker
16 SPRING ISSUE

Box braids, bonnets, long acrylic nails with intricate designs
and giant gold hoops are all styles that were popularized by
Black Americans.
Yet, Black culture has often been imitated and
appropriated by other groups. For example, when Kim Kardashian
wore Fulani braids to a red carpet and named them, “Bo Derek
braids” to a red carpet event or the entirety of the K-Pop industry.
Stacy Morgan, a professor in the department of American
studies, explained that Black culture is foundational to broader
American popular culture.
“There is no U.S. popular culture as people think about
[Black culture], historically or contemporary, without the influences
of African American culture, which have been central in so many
different expressive media, kind of at pretty much every historical
juncture,” Morgan said.
He said this type of appropriation has been happening for
decades going as far back to Vaudeville.
“But in the mid-1800s [blackface and minstrelsy] becomes the
most popular form of theatrical entertainment, and it lives on into
the era of vaudeville, where it’s basically white performers masking
up with blackface makeup, acting out caricatures of African
American song and dance, which to varying degrees, actually
borrow from some elements of African American music and dance,”
Morgan said.
Older examples of appropriation can be seen with music
artists from the 20th century such as Elvis Presley who was famously
inspired by Black musicians. One of Presley’s most famous songs,
“Hound Dog,” was originally sung by Big Mama Thornton.
Mae West was another 20th century celebrity who was
inspired by Black people as well. However, while West admitted to
being inspired by African American performers, she was afforded
privileges that Black people didn’t have access to.
“She takes a lot of her stage persona from African American
blues performers. I mean, what she acknowledged. Right? But
again, she just has this worldwide fame at a certain moment, and
especially in the 1930s that’s just not available to the people that
she’s influenced by,” Morgan said.
But with the recent explosion of people on social media,
especially the popularity of TikTok, there has been a rise of Black
aesthetics including hair and fashion being co-opted by non-Black
people globally.
A very prominent example of the globalization and
commodification of Black culture can be seen in the K-Pop industry.
“Within K-pop, blackface, mouthing or saying racial
slurs, and purely aesthetic uses of Black culture and hairstyles
are still common,” wrote Elizabeth de Luna in an article
for The Guardian.
There have been many instances of Black culture being used
as an aesthetic for K-Pop artists. Such as the use of cornrows by
Taeyang of BigBang back in the late 2000s or when BTS member V
put on a durag mid livestream for seemingly no reason.
Morgan said, this type of one-sided cultural exchange
happens because Black Americans are not respected.
“But like so many non-Black Americans, not just white
folks, loving Black culture not embracing Black people in the same
respect,” Morgan said.
Non-American fast fashion brands like SHEIN are also guilty
of using Black cultural aesthetics as a way to make money.
“I really don’t think they understand what they’re doing
sometimes. I really just think the United States lives in a different
time, like a different world,” said MyKayla Robinson a senior
majoring in apparel textiles. “Because I know that I’ve never been
out of the country, but I know people who have and these countries,
they just don’t look at it like that. They look at it as like they’re
inspired by us, not that they’re like, offending us.”
This poses a question: how do Black Americans navigate
a world that consistently strips away their culture and integrates
it into popular culture, without exerting high amounts of energy
by constantly having to remind everyone where the current
trends originated?
Robinson said it’s important to take a step back to see if
cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation is happening.
“Some people really are inspired, and that’s where
you have to draw the line, when it’s inspiration or when it’s
mocking,” Robinson said. “And I feel like that’s the biggest issue.
Where you have to figure out, are they mocking me, are they
trying to take something away from me, discredit me, or are
they truly inspired by me? Especially going to a predominantly
white school, you really have to take a step back and figure
that out.”
Modern celebrities partake in blurring the line between
cultural appropriation and appreciation as well. Grammy
winning singer, Billie Eilish has recently come under fire for
consistently drawing inspiration from fashion commonly seen in
Hip-Hop spaces.
Because of this fine line and the constant blurring of
said line, it makes the fact that Black aesthetics are a trend
more commonplace.
“I get my nails done a lot ... And it’s always the white girls who
walk up, they’re like, ‘oh my God, look at your nails.’ They have all of
these crazy things to say about them. They’re just so astonished by
the nails,” Robinson said. “But to us, I just got my nails done. It’s a
Tuesday. It’s not a trend to me. We’ve always put gold dots and stuff
on our nails. That’s new to them, but it’s like, this is regular to me.
You want to get your nails done like this because you saw it on some
random white lady on Pinterest. I saw my mom get her nails like this
when I was 10, and so I want to recreate it.”
The Kardashian Jenner siblings have also been critiqued over
the years for their appropriation of Black protective hairstyles.
Morgan said this appropriation happens because Black
culture is seen as a kind of “taboo” to non-Black people.
“It’s, in fact, important that they draw on African American
fashions and other things periodically to inject their persona with
a new sense of vibrancy or flair periodically, even as their whiteness
is really still essential to the level of their fame and popularity,”
he said.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 17

Students participate in a die-in for Palestine on the University of Alabama Quad on Dec. 4, 2024.
Photo courtesy of Caroline Simms/The Crimson White
18 SPRING ISSUE

INJUSTICE
ON A
GLOBAL
SCALE
American individualism has caused
many Black Americans to believe
that the injustices of the world are
isolated, however, many of these
global issues have ties to America.
By Jermaine Ball
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 19

In 2023, many graphic images and videos were spread on social
media showing the extreme violence Palestinians were suffering
as Israel continued its attack on the civilian population. As a
result, many Black activists and social media users expressed
their support of Palestinians. The relationship between the Black
community and Palestine has a long history, and highlight the ways
international conflicts often intersect.
On Sept. 12, 2024, Missouri’s first black Congresswoman
Cori Bush, sat on a panel discussing Black and Palestinian solidarity
alongside Congresswoman Rashida Talib, Marc Lamont Hill,
Georgia State Representative Ruwa Ronman and Mehdi Hasan.
She tells the story of how during the infamous 2014
Ferguson, Missouri uprisings a group of Palestinians helped her and
other demonstrators combat the tear gas, rubber bullets and other
weapons used against them by police. A gesture she mentioned she
was surprised by.
Bush asked them what their motivation was and their
response was “Because we understand state-sanctioned violence, we
understand oppression, and we know what happens to us and we
don’t want that to happen to anyone else.”
A response that speaks to an awareness of intersectionality,
an awareness of the importance of mutual aid.
“You can’t effectively combat oppression if you’re not
combating oppression against all communities,” said Ashton
Javine, a freshman majoring in biology and a representative from
Bama Students for Palestine. “They’re descendants of the same
root cause.”
The fight for liberation in Black American communities has
long been intertwined with international conflicts. Many
revolutionary Black leaders and movements have
addressed conflicts in Palestine, South Africa, Congo
and several other nations to bring attention to
their suffering.
“If you’re supporting Black Lives Matter, but you’re not in
support of Palestinian Liberation, well, those are pretty much like
those are two parallel struggles,” Javine said. “So, you will never
be able to completely fix one and not the other, because they’re
descendants of the same root cause.”
Revolutionaries such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr.,
James Baldwin, Nelson Mandela, Kwame Ture, Angela Davis, various
Black Panther Party members, Muhammad Ali and countless others
have drawn parallels between marginalized communities fights
for liberation.
Many have brought attention to the ways Palestinian struggle
mirrors the struggles of other marginalized groups. One example
is how American police are trained in militant tactics by the Israeli
Defense Force (IDF), which is known for their excessive uses of
deadly force and violence towards Palestinian civilians.
According to a Forbes article, many of the same names
donating to help build various “Cop Cities” in places like Atlanta also
have donated to Israel.
In May 2024, several student protestors at Emory University
sought to bring attention to these parallels. During a demonstration,
students protested Atlanta’s development of a Cop City and urged
Emory’s divestment from Israel and an organization called Georgia
International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE). GILEE is a nonprofit
program that sends U.S. police officers to Israel and vice versa
for training and other activities.
“The Cop Cities are meant to combat us, and the entity that
is known as Israel is used to combat Arabs and steal oil and other
minerals,” said Hi’Keem Mobley, a member of the Party for Socialism
and Liberation. “It’s all a capitalist venture.”
These protests highlight the intersectional nature of issues of
oppression, as many of these protests also addressed how attacking
immigration contributes to the oppression of marginalized
communities in the United States and abroad.
Though there is a historical connection between Black
American and Palestine, Emwanta said that recently, there has been
a transactional nature to allyship.
“I would kind of expect us as Black people to understand and
kind of sympathize or empathize,” Emwanta said.
Emwanta critiqued those who think domestic issues, or
issues that personally affect them, are the only issues that matter.
“I know you’re for Black liberation,” she said. “What about
Photo courtesy of Caroline Simms/The Crimson White
Photo courtesy of Hannah Grace Mayfield/The Crimson White
20 SPRING ISSUE

trans people? What about Palestinians? What about people across
the globe? What about Syrians, Lebanese people? It’s just, I don’t
know if you’re for one, but not for all.”
For Emwanta, it is important for Black Americans to remain
aligned with other marginalized communities, and to resist the urge
to critique other groups in the same way that the Black community
is critiqued.
“It’s just at the end of the day, sometimes there’s a want to
kind of oppress someone else,” she said. “It feels there’s some sort of
gratification you get when you get to be above someone.”
For many activists, it is important to combat misinformation
and remain allied to other communities in the pursuit
of liberation.
“When you’re talking about fighting any type of oppression,
solidarity is crucial, because it’s honestly the only thing you have;
as soon as you get rid of that you don’t have a unified force fighting
against oppression,” Javine said. “You just have these groups, and all
of them are suffering, but because they’re not united, none of them
can succeed.”
As the Black liberationists of the 20th century expressed,
Black oppression is inherently linked to the oppression of
marginalized communities across the world. In order to combat
oppression in the United States, there must be solidarity across
various international communities.
“Anything that’s happening to anyone around the
world and even at home, if the U.S. has something to do with
it, they are essentially prepared to do it to us too,” Mobley
said. “If we’re not in support of the people that are fighting
these things ... then we are a hundred times more vulnerable
to it.”
“
You can’t effectively combat oppression
if you’re not combating oppression against
all communities. They’re descendants of the
same root cause.
— Ashton Javine
”
Photo courtesy of Hannah Grace Mayfield/The Crimson White
Photo Courtesy of Caroline Simms/The Crimson White
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 21

Beyond Beauty
Standards
Grappling with societal pressures to perform masculinity or feminity.
By Trinity Jenkins
When most people open social
media, they find their feed
flooded with celebrities and
influencers displaying their
luxurious lifestyles.
For a long time, celebrities have been
expected to reflect the beauty standards
in society, even when those standards
have been a little extreme. Though they
are people just like everyone else, many
desire to look, dress and act just like them.
For those who fall outside of these often
Eurocentric standards they are subject to
intense scrutiny and judgement, especially
women of color.
But in 2025, those rules are getting
flipped, stretched, and sometimes thrown
out altogether. Celebrities, influencers, and
everyday people are proving that identity
is not one-size-fits-all. From the changing
definition of pretty to the slow death
of hypermasculinity.
DeJa Sparks, a sophomore majoring
in news media, shares her take on changing
beauty standards.
“The beauty standard for women
used to be white, blonde and skinny and I
feel like over time that has changed,” Sparks
said. “I feel like in each community, there is
a beauty standard for their people, and I feel
like you’re never going to please somebody
because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Megan Pete better known as Megan
Thee Stallion, a tall, Black female artist is
Photo by Melanee Moore
22 SPRING ISSUE

one of the most hyper-masculinized women
in today’s society. In the summer of 2020,
she was shot by Toronto rapper Tory Lanez,
however, no one believed that he inflicted
harm on Pete; she was even accused by
some of being the aggressor.
Because of her height and
body, she has also been accused
of being a man, or attributed
with masculine traits, despite her
feminine aesthetic.
Similarly, Serena Williams
has famously been accused of
being a man, with critics citing
her dark skin and muscular frame
as proof.
The
masculinization
of Black women, especially darkskinned
Black women, is not a new
phenomenon; tracing back to slavery,
Black women were often attributed
masculine traits as an excuse to justify
their labor.
While Black women today embrace
different beauty trends and express
feminine traits, they are still always at risk
of being masculinized because of race.
As Eurocentric beauty standards prevail
in Western society, Black women with
non-European features are considered
unattractive, or are denied access
to femininity.
On social media, things like filters
or face tuning apps contribute to the push
towards Eurocentric beauty standards.
Despite this, many Black women are
turning away from these beauty standards,
acknowledging their racist roots.
Shelby Williams, a sophomore
majoring in news media, shares her views on
how social media shapes beauty standards.
“I would say it’s being seen as you
have to look a certain way, you have to dress
a certain way,” Williams said. “The beauty
standards I feel are very constricting.”
Many celebrities and influencers
are beginning to challenge the widelyaccepted
notions surrounding beauty. Jackie
Aina, for example, a beauty influencer and
entrepreneur, has vocalized her critiques
of the makeup industry, demanding
better shade ranges and visibility for
dark-skinned people.
“It’s us against us at the end of the
day, and I feel like people should be able to
wear what they want to wear, just having the
freedom to be themselves,” Sparks said.
Graphic by Oleksandr Panasovsky-stock.adobe.com
While
women deal with impossible beauty
expectations and being masculinized,
men have their own battle within
hypermasculinity.
The idea is that to be a real man,
you need to be tough, aggressive, and
emotionally unavailable. For years, celebrity
men have built their brands around the
idea that men should be dominant, rich
and emotionless.
Young Thug famously wore a dress
on the cover of his 2016 Album “Jeffery,”
igniting a heated debate on his sexuality. He
was accused of ruining the image of Black
men, or making Black men seem feminine.
Jaden Smith found himself in similar
hot water in 2015 for wearing a skirt to
prom. Despite being a minor at the time,
he was criticized for weeks on social media,
with people questioning both his sexuality
and his mental health.
Though many Black men have been
attacked on social media for forgoing their
masculinity, the last few years have seen
a new wave of celebrities proving that
masculinity doesn’t have to be so rigid.
Lil Nas X, who’s unapologetically
queer, challenges the ways Black men
are supposed to dress and behave. He
acknowledges that early in his career, he
tried to adhere to mainstream ideas about
Black masculinity in order to avoid criticism.
He later realized it’s better for him to be his
authentic self.
Despite the recent trend of men
stepping outside of traditional gender
norms, they often still face backlash.
When Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan
Majors posed together for The New
York Times, it was met with mixed
reactions from social media. Some saw
it as a fresh take on Black masculinity.
Others claimed it was too soft. But the
truth is, masculinity isn’t about being
aggressive or emotionless, it’s about
confidence in who you are.
If there’s one thing social media does
well, it’s hype up new beauty and masculinity
trends. One minute, bushy brows are in.
The next, everyone is shaving them off. It’s
fast, it’s unpredictable, and it’s completely
reshaping what’s considered attractive.
On the positive side, platforms like
TikTok have given space to body positivity,
gender-fluid fashion, and natural beauty.
Influencers like Bretman Rock and Wisdom
Kaye are redefining what it means to
be stylish and confident, regardless of
gender norms.
Meanwhile, male skincare influencers
are proving that self-care isn’t just for
women it’s for everyone.
But let’s not forget the downside.
Social media still tends to push unrealistic
standards, especially for women.
Filters smooth out pores that don’t
need smoothing. Editing apps make waists
smaller, lips bigger, and muscles more
defined. Even when diversity is celebrated
social media algorithms still tend to favor
certain looks over others.
Malcom Brown, a senior majoring in
psychology, shares his definition of what the
strength of a secure man is.
“I think the true strength of a man
comes from him being able to have selfcontrol
and being able to identify with
his feelings; it’s not feminine of him,”
Brown said.
As more people challenge the old
rules, the future of beauty and masculinity
looks way more exciting. Brands are being
forced to step up their game, offering more
diverse products and representation. But
the real change is coming from people who
refuse to conform.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 23

reonna Taylor. Amiri Reid. LaKendra Andrews. London Price.
isa Love. Amber Minor. Savannah Ryan Williams. Kejuan
ichardson. Dominic Dupree. A’nee Johnson. Sherlyn Marjorie.
hyna Long. Yoko. Thomas “Tom-Tom” Robertson. DéVonnie J’Rae
ohnson. Chanell Perez Ortiz. Ashia Davis. Banko Brown. Koko
a Doll. Ashley Burton. Ta’Siyah Woodland. Chashay Ashanti
enderson. Maria Jose Rivera Rivera. Zachee Imanitwitaho.
nique Banks. Jasmine “Star” Mack. Sonya Massey. Ta’Kiya
oung. Ajike “A.J.” Owens. Tahiry Broom. Amyri Dior. Righteous
orrence “TK” Hill. Diamond Brigman. Meraxes Medina. Yella
lark. Starr Brown. Kita Bee. Tayy Dior Thomas. Michelle
enry. Kenji Spurgeon. Shannon Boswell. Monique Brooks.
ai’Vion Lathan. Kassim Omar. Redd. Honee Daniels. Santonip
San” Coleman. Quanesha “Cocoa” Shantel. Ra’Lasia Wright.
ameron Thompson. Vanity Williams. Dylan Gurley. Jazlynn.
orsha Ngumezi. Amber Nicole Thurman. Candi Miller. Rebecca
heptegei. Barbara Nomakhosi. Johanita Dogbey. Tiarah Poyau.
anese Talton-Jackson. Cherica Adams. Jessica Hampton. Mary
pears. Nokuthula Thashe. Kasandra Perkins. Nova Henry.
aVena Johnson. April Jace. Julia Martin. Josephine Wright. India
ummings. Korryn Gaines. Michelle Cusseaux. Niani Finlayson.
a’Kiya Young. Jessica Denise Brown. Ki’Azia Miller. Imonie
acket. Brianna Grier. Mable Lucille Arrington. Madeline Miller.
ada Elizabeth Johnson. LaDamonyan Dewayne Hall. Camille
eems. Erica Graham. Kentra Wilson. Faubricia Virtaux Gainer.
uinetrice McAllister. Stephanie Wilson. Nakita Williams. Fanta
ility. Ma’Khia Bryant. Priscilla Slater. Tiffany Alexis Eurbanks.
24 SPRING ISSUE

MISOGYNOIR
The intersection of Blackness and womanhood.
By Rihanna Pointer
Graphic by sudowoodo-stock.adobe.com
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 25

In the past few years, cases of violence
against Black women, like the murder of
Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei
and the assault of Megan Thee Stallion,
have received increased attention in
the media.
However, these cases are not isolated
incidents; rather, they are a glimpse into a
larger societal problem.
Moya Bailey, a queer Black feminist
scholar, coined the term “Misogynoir,”
to describe this specific disproportion in
violence, disdain or contempt in society
that Black women experience, and the ways
it manifests in the media, cultural and
political landscapes.
According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, in 2023 Black women faced the
highest rates of victimization, 27.2% violent
crimes per 1,000 women.
Yet, when it comes to the violence
Black women experience, Mahalia Crawford,
an assistant professor in the Department of
Gender and Race Studies at the University
a long history of debate about, kind of, how
do we incorporate it, like gender into a
movement about race.”
Along with the erasure of the
issue, Crawford said Black women are
constantly gaslit into feeling inadequate in
various ways.
“We are told many different things
that we are too loud, too overly sexual,
we are not enough, we do too much, ‘Oh,
you need to talk too much.’ When Black
women are the smartest demographic, it
just further contributes to misogynoir,”
Crawford said. “We are constantly having
to disprove our stereotypes, even if it
means changing how we dress or do our
hair to be seen as professional, because
our bodies and our hair have been seen as
inherently unprofessional.”
Domestic violence is often
intertwined with misogynoir. Black women
face high rates of intimate partner violence,
which can have long-lasting consequences
on their physical and mental health.
Brooke Thomas, an assistant
professor in the department of gender and
race studies at the University of Alabama,
said the portrayal of Black women’s
struggles in the media may be influenced
by factors such as racism and sexism,
including the decisions made by those
behind the camera to depict Black women in
particular ways.
“When Black women are portrayed
in a one-dimensional, stereotypical way, it
can desensitize us to their struggles and
even contribute to violence against them,”
Thomas said. “We need more complex,
nuanced portrayals in the media that take
into account the experiences of Black
women in a deeper way.”
Crawford said the unconscious
stereotypes and archetypes of the “strong,
independent Black woman,” like the
Sapphire or the Black matriarch, have
negative and lasting consequences on Black
women’s lives.
“It’s important to see Black women
”
“How do we create a better society if we
don’t maybe call out the problems and have
the conversation.
— Brooke Thomas
of Alabama, said that often it isn’t
discussed, Black women are conditioned to
“suffer silently.”
“Misogynoir is heavily affected and
deeply rooted in American history and
culture,” Crawford said.
However, historically conversations
surrounding misogynoir haven’t always
been allowed to flourish. Even within
liberation movements like in the 20th
century, the Black Liberation Movement
sought to address issues of systemic racism,
discrimination and inequality faced by Black
people. However, the movement did not
explicitly address issues related to misogyny
and misogynoir.
“I think there’s a long history of
kind of gender tensions in the movement,”
Thomas said. “I think there’s a long, I think
26 SPRING ISSUE
“The increased rate of intimate
partner violence during COVID-19 is
especially concerning for Black women, who
are often stuck in the home and unable to
escape their abusers,” Crawford said.
She said the Black community
unwittingly contributes to masking
violence against Black women through
subtle forms of abuse such as verbal and
emotional manipulation.
She stressed the importance of
prioritizing one’s well-being in the face of
such societal discrimination.
“We have fought for civil rights,
gender equality, and sexual assault
awareness, but when it comes to our own
issues as Black women, the response is often
silent,” Crawford said. “We need to focus on
protecting ourselves and our families.”
as complex characters, full people who
have a humanity and deserve protection,”
Thomas said.
Two notable high-profile black
women, Tina Turner and Megan Thee
Stallion, experienced trauma in their lives
that was extensively discussed in the media.
Tina Turner was famously abused by
her husband, Ike, during their marriage.
Her book, “I, Tina: My Life Story,”
detailed the physical and emotional abuse
she suffered at his hands. Media coverage
of her story at the time often focused on
the sensational aspects of the abuse and
sensationalized the violence she endured.
Her experience became a joke in the media,
especially after the film about her life
downplayed its seriousness.
Megan Thee Stallion faced a

traumatic moment in 2020 when she was
shot at a party, leading to the arrest of Tory
Lanez. Media coverage of this incident often
focused on the details of the shooting and
the legal proceedings rather than on the
emotional impact the event had on Megan
Thee Stallion.
Thomas said high-profile Black
women, like Tina Turner and Megan Thee
Stallion, often experience a lack of empathy
from the media and the public in response
to traumatic events and violence committed
against them.
“With Megan Thee Stallion, for
example, there was an immediate inability
to even see her as a victim, largely due to
race and gender,” she said. “This lack of
empathy is likely due to a lack of belief that
she could be harmed, and it’s exacerbated by
the fact that she faced legal consequences
for speaking out about the incident.”
Thomas emphasized that these
experiences highlight the need for media
and society to view Black women’s struggles
in a more nuanced and empathetic
way, rather than sensationalizing or
dismissing them.
The lack of Black representation in
journalism and storytelling can contribute
to this problem.
“If we’re not seeing more Black
journalists and storytellers, we’re not
getting a full picture of the Black female
experience,” Thomas said.
Some Black women at the University
of Alabama reported experiencing
various forms of misogynoir on campus
and in the community. They mentioned
microaggressions, such as being ignored in
class, and more overt acts of racism that had
led to them feeling unsafe in certain areas
off-campus.
Aniyah Kingston, a junior majoring
in social work, said that the University’s
campus culture contributes to and
perpetuates issues related to misogynoir
through social organizations and their
stereotyping of individuals based
on appearance.
“It is no room for people to just do
what they want to do,” she said. “It’s more
so if you look a certain way, then you should
do this.”
Elise Hankerson, a freshman
majoring in international studies and
business, expressed a desire for more safe
spaces and opportunities to connect with
“
other people of color, highlighting the lack
of diversity present on campus.
“I know we had the Black Student
Union. They can’t change that, of course,
but I wish there was like, more safe spaces
and like more so I could meet more Black
women or more people of color,” she said.
By taking a step-by-step approach
to education and advocacy, society can
begin to shed light on misogynoir and
ultimately contribute to creating a more
inclusive world.
Graphic by Shelby West
“How do we create a better society if
we don’t maybe call out the problems and
have the conversation,” she said.
Hankerson said that before calling it
out though society must acknowledge that
it is a problem.
“I think that’s one thing that this
country, this society, needs, is to acknowledge
the problem, and at least because I feel like
acknowledging it is like half of the work that
it is, but now it’s like we’re in denial about
what’s actually happening,” Hankerson said.
We have fought for civil rights,
gender equality and sexual assault
awareness, but when it comes to
our own issues as Black women, the
response is often silence.
— Mahalia Crawford”
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 27

ANAMNESIS:
A collection by Zachary Dej
28 SPRING ISSUE

Kendal Wright wearing a fur lined hood
and a long black organza dress with a
fur lined slit.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 29

30 SPRING ISSUE
Dacia Brown wearing a short black
organza dress with fur lining and cream
lace panel in the center.

Mariah Dunn wearing a black leather
bandeau top, a black striped skirt with a
silver belt and ripped black tights.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 31

Amayah Shaienne wearing a fur lined
hood and a long black asymmetrical
black dress with a black mesh
panel underneath.
32 SPRING ISSUE

Zachary Dej wearing sunglasses, a
double belt top, a large brown fur cut,
silver rings and medium blue flare jeans.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 33

Maneuvering the
Job Market
A student preparing for the first round of Zoom interviews for a job.
Photos by Brianna Skelton. Model: Angel Scales
Navigating the job market can be difficult. Nineteen Fifty-Six presents
tips for how to best approach the job search.
By Arianna Pope
34 SPRING ISSUE

For many college students, finding
a job after graduation is a stressful
feat. For Black students, there’s
an added layer of difficulty due to
systemic barriers and implicit biases.
Yet these issues have become
exacerbated with recent legislation like the
repealing of the Equal Opportunity Act, a
series of acts that are at risk of being revoked,
causing many upcoming graduates to
wonder what the job landscape will look like
for diverse candidates.
Aiden Hatfield, a Full Sail
University alum with a degree in music
production, said finding a job can
be difficult.
“It’s hard. I feel like for these types
of things you just have to network and be
around people to eventually get it and that’s
what I’m doing right now,” he said.
For Jasmine Thomas, a student
success program manager in the
Culverhouse College of Business, when she
entered the job market almost 10 years ago,
she said these systemic issues weren’t at the
forefront of her mind.
“Which for a lot of students
nowadays, you all don’t have the luxury
of not thinking about it,” Thomas
said. “There’s so much going on in
society now.”
According to a 2023 survey by Monster,
a job search website that connects people
with jobs, out of more than 3,000 employees,
91% of them had suffered some form
of workplace discrimination.
However, in an email statement,
James King, an associate dean for culture
and success and a Miles-Rose professor
of leadership in the Culverhouse College
of Business, said while students can face
barriers and biases while looking for a
job, they aren’t easily seen during the
application phase.
“For better or worse, people in our
society had gotten very good, consciously and
unconsciously, about hiding or disguising
elements of bias, racial or otherwise. Of
course, it was never possible to hide bias
totally, but most people and institutions
can put on their best face over the course of
the interviews and interactions associated
with pre-employment,” King said. “So overt
instances of interpersonal discrimination
or bias, during pre-employment, that are
noticeable to applicants have been relatively
rare for some time. When they do happen,
you don’t really need to be an expert to
notice them.”
King said systemic bias in employment
today is “greatly driven by distortions” of what
merit-based hiring is.
“It is ironic that now when ‘merit’
commonly comes up in conversation, it is
implied or presented as something that
was once a functional rule, and that it was
put aside to hire women and minorities,
when the exact opposite is actually
true,” King said.
He said systemic bias in employment
is hidden by several distortions of merit
that require background information and
access that applicants especially external
applicants rarely have, including: the
idea that “the stated qualifications and
processes for getting jobs are automatically
and undoubtedly unbiased,” the practical
application of qualifications and subjective
decisions about whether a person meets
minimum “merit” qualifications, whether
they are fairly defined or not.
However, to overcome these obstacles,
Thomas said it starts with researching
into the companies that you’re interested
in and making sure those environments
are inclusive.
“I think it’s becoming more of a real
thing for students now that are entering
the job force, that the company that you
decide to work for need to be aware and
have actually have inclusive practices and
implement those practices, and you need
to try your best to weed out the companies
that are not doing that,” she said.
She said this might not always be
possible in certain careers, but it’s still
important to be aware of.
“You know, sometimes you really
can’t avoid it, but you can avoid people
being racially biased or discriminatory,”
Thomas said.
For any position you’re interested
in she recommended that students
do their research no matter what
that looks like.
“Do your due diligence and actually
research these places. There’s Tik Tok now,
there is Instagram,” Thomas said. “You can
probably find a lot of resources on social
media where people are like, ‘Hey I’m a
financial analyst at so and so company this
is my experience.’”
She encouraged students to use social
media to their advantage, which sometimes
can include using LinkedIn to reach out to
people of color at potential companies that
these students may want to apply to.
She suggested that students should
set up informal interviews to get a clear
understanding of the company culture and
also what day to day company life is like
at that specific company firsthand from
someone of color.
King agreed with networking being
a great tool for students even if it’s hard.
He said when he was a young, introverted
engineer student “purposeful networking”
felt unnatural to him, but once he started
treating it as getting to know people
because they were interesting or helping
people because it was the right thing to do
it began to click. at first as a young introvert,
“Eventually, I started to understand
the concept of networking as professional
necessity and life enhancer. My advice to
young people is to be intentional earlier
than I was,” King said.
King said while these systemic issues
still exist the most practical advice, he can
give is to still put your best foot forward
with every interview and being as prepared
as possible.
“Preparation starts with having grades
and experiences that make you attractive
for the job you seek,” King said. “Then
you want to prepare a resume, cover letter
and what people currently call an “elevator
pitch” that projects your key qualities and
experiences, and how the match up to the
job/organization in clear ways. Lastly, you
need to practice talking to people about
this, until your conversation is both natural,
and well-rehearsed.”
Graphic by Eucalyp-stock.adobe.com
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 35

All
About
Amayah
The Chicago native influences Tuscaloosa and beyond.
By Kay Maxwell and Jeffrey Kelly
36 SPRING ISSUE

Amayah Shaienne wearing a Calvin Klein set with blue
jeans and white kitten heels.
Photos by Xavier Routt
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 37

“
Shaienne hitting a yoga pose in a black Alo set and white calf
grip socks.
38 SPRING ISSUE

When native Chicagoan,
Amaya Shaienne, a junior
majoring in public relations
and influencer, arrived
at The University of Alabama in 2022 for
orientation, she knew little about the
University, except it was where she wanted
to start a life of her own.
“I just knew that if I went to a school
in Illinois, my parents would be there every
single weekend to bring me stuff and I
really wanted to figure everything out on
my own,” Shaienne said. “So just coming
here and kind of putting myself into an
uncomfortable situation to be able to build
character and be myself and just be in a new
place like that was the main goal, and I feel
like it worked out pretty well.”
That journey is one common to so
many students as they enter college, but
hers took a surprising turn, after she posted
a TikTok she posted from bid day, to tell
people back home that she’d gotten into a
sorority, quickly gained traction.
“It’s actually a crazy story because
I’d been seeing all my friends TikTok
post during Bama rush, but I was more
on like a sports side of TikTok, so it didn’t
really consume my feed,” Shaienne said. “I
recorded [the video] because everyone had
their phones out. I didn’t know what I was
going to do with it, but I was in the hotel
room during our bid day retreat, and I kind
of just edited the video into, like a short
little clip.”
She said she asked her hotel
roommate for feedback after she finished
it and her roommate thought it was cool,
so she posted it that night and woke up to
a few thousand more followers than she
had beforehand.
Since then, she’s amassed 114
thousand followers and 7.2 million likes
on TikTok and 13.4 thousand followers on
Instagram with content that documents her
college experience.
Shaienne said looking back because
so many things happened at once she
couldn’t process it until school started, but
once she did, she got the hang of things
and began to grow her platform with some
insights from friends who’d also gained
larger followings.
“I’ve just been pleasantly surprised
by how it’s worked out, and I have loved
every second of it,” Shaienne said. “It’s
really great.”
As she reflected on her rise on social
media, she said it’s all been a learning
process including learning to be confident
in being completely herself online.
She said at first, she felt as though
she had to play a role for her audience, but
she realized that it was better to be herself.
“People follow me for me, and not
just because I’m in a sorority at Alabama, or
what I wear,” Shaienne said. “It’s really about
showcasing yourself and I wish I would have
known that, because I feel like I spent a lot
of time trying to be like other creators and
just picking up on trending things instead
of doing my own thing.”
For her, being authentically herself is
important, especially as a Black woman in a
white-dominated space.
“Being one of the few members
of Black members in Panhellenic, I found
myself navigating spaces where I was
visibly different, which was hard to, go
through, and it was isolating, but it gave
me an opportunity to challenge stereotypes,
which I feel like I do best at this point, and
my identity didn’t constantly negotiate my
belonging in the space,” she said.
I have this saying for this
year that I’ve been following.
It’s to own my own voice,
unapologtically.
— Amayah Shaienne
While Shaienne said she was able
to open people’s minds, there were some
who had a problem with her being in a
panhellenic sorority, especially when her
mother was a member of Alpha Kappa
Alpha, a historically Black National Pan-
Hellenic Council organization. However, it
was important to Shaienne to forge her own
path in college.
“There’s a lot more things that I
am than just a Black girl in a sorority,” she
said. “I kind of had to verbalize that to
other people because they thought I was
capitalizing off of the sorority experience,
but I actually really do enjoy it. It’s one of
the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
It was hard, but I figured it out.”
With many of her endeavors Shaienne
enters them unabashedly with a sort of
confidence that she will figure it out and she
encourages other aspiring content creators
to do the same, to start their platforms and
not let fear of what others think scare them
out of something they enjoy.
“I feel like a lot of people are afraid
to post, which I definitely was at first, but I
realized that no one really is making fun of
you,” she said.
This willingness to take risks
has allowed Shaienne to explore new
opportunities in her life and adapt
to changes.
As she continues on her journey
this year, Shaienne is also exploring the
other facets of herself. She’s working on
expanding her content into the lifestyle
space and she’s even got her first job
working at a local Pilates studio.
“I’m a big Pilates girl now,” she said.
Shaienne played lacrosse in high
school and still enjoys pickup games with
friends when she’s home, so the Pilates
studio has been a new way to incorporate
fitness in her life.
Her interest in health and fitness
had inspired her to major in microbiology
when she entered college, to become a
nutritionist. However, she soon realized it
wasn’t for her and changed her major to
public relations, since then she’s been able
to incorporate her classroom knowledge
into her content creation.
“They don’t talk about social
media that often, but since it is growing
exponentially, it has been brought up a
lot, and I feel like I have the upper hand
about that,” she said. “And it also
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 39
”knowing

makes class a lot more interesting when it
is relating to what I do, because I’m a lot
more focused, and it’s not just like sitting
through a calculus class.”
Along with doing content and
classwork, she’s also involved with her
sorority and enjoys spending time with her
sisters and attending their events.
“I was head of public relations in my
sorority as well,” she said. “Which is always
fun, being able to promote events like our
Barbecue for Breast Cancer, or our Crawfish
for a Cure.”
As a junior in college, juggling
classes, her job, her sorority, and content
creation all at once, can be stressful for
anyone, but she said for her it’s all about
balance and making sure that her work
and personal lives don’t negatively affect
each other.
“That’s what’s really important to me
just so there’s no burnout or that I stay true
to myself and I’m not putting out content
that doesn’t mean anything to me,” she said.
Recently, Shaienne was in New York
for Fashion Week, attending events hosted
by Yves Saint Laurent and Nylon Magazine.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to place
myself out of my comfort zone as a normally
shy person as well,” she said. “I also love that
I am able to participate at such a young age
to really experience things I wouldn’t at
school firsthand.”
She said one of her favorite moments
was the YSL beauty event.
“I got to meet a lot of amazing
creators and people who work in all
industries,” Shaienne said. “It’s really cool
when there are a diverse group of people
at events because you get to learn so much
about everyone.
Now, she’s back in Tuscaloosa and
ready to take on the rest of the semester,
creating content, staying engaged with
the campus community, and remaining her
authentic self.
“I have this saying for this year that
I’ve been following,” she said. “It’s to own my
own voice, unapologetically.”
“
”
“There’s a lot more things that I am
than just a Black girl in a sorority.
— Amayah Shaienne
Shaienne taking a selfie.
40 SPRING ISSUE

People follow me for
me, and not just because
I’m in a sorority at
Alabama, or what
I wear.
— Amayah Shaienne
”
Shaienne editing a TikTok video on her phone.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 41

42 SPRING ISSUE

SPRING 2025
Southern
Charm
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 43

Dear
Black
Students,
You do matter.
As of Fall 2024, 13.9% of students on campus identified as Black or
African American. Black students are disproportionately underrepresented
in various areas on campus and their numerous achievements and talents
deserve to be recognized.
Nineteen Fifty-Six is a Black student-led magazine that amplifies
Black voices within the University of Alabama’s community. It also seeks to
educate students from all backgrounds on culturally important issues and
topics in an effort to produce socially conscious, ethical and well-rounded
citizens.
44 SPRING ISSUE

On the cover: Model pouring sweet tea for dinner guests.
Photo by Xavier Routt
On the inside cover: Model sitting at a table after a dinner party.
Photo by Sidney Todd
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 45

CONTENTS
48
Mapping the South
A look at the
geographical vs. cultural
aspects that make up
the South.
The South through
55 the Senses
While ever changing
here’s some images that
remind a photographer
of the South.
The Roots of
58 Southern Pride
Can Black Southerners
still love their heritage
despite the regions long,
dark history?
‘The South Got
66 Something to Say’
The South has made
its mark on music and
continues to push Black
music forward.
Erasure of
78 Black History
How schools across the
South are cutting Black
History lessons in
the classroom.
46 SPRING ISSUE

In Conversation
52 with Victor
Luckerson
Meet the 2015 alum
chronically the stories
of those effected by the
1921 Tulsa
Race Massacre.
Twirl and Triumph
70 A deep dive into UA’s
Crimson Belles, the
university’s only auxiliary
dance team.
This issue of Nineteen Fifty-
Six magazine is a special double issue
inspired by New York Magazine and the
idea of intersectionality.
When you’re done reading about
how UA alum Victor Luckerson wrote
his debut book “Built From Fire” or the
South’s influence on hip hop, flip your
copy over and upside down to read the
first section, “Multitudes.”
“Multitudes” explores the idea
of intersectionality and the way our
intersecting identities effect our
everyday lives.
We hope you enjoy!
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 47

48 SPRING ISSUE
Graphics by Lyric Talley

Mapping
the
South
How the cultural and geographical borders of the South were defined
historically and what they are today.
By Kendal Wright
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 49

T
he American South; the birthplace of a rich culture
tapestry and political movements.
It is home to millions of unique individuals. It
is through the intricate history of the region where
the South starts, where it ends, and what makes it unique can
be considered.
However, where the South begins and ends is an ever
evolving conversation. The denotation and the connotation for
the South are both similar and different in that in the former, the
American South can be described as slave states and states admitted
south of Missouri’s border or the 36°30’ latitude after the Missouri
Compromise of 1820.
This legislation would stand until the passing of the Kansas-
Nebraska Act of 1854 which resulted in giving the states the power
to determine through voting whether or not they would become
a slave state. The slave states in the U.S. at the time were Alabama,
Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
and Virginia.
“The legacies of slavery and the Civil War had an impact
and there’s a lot of symbolic capital that was historically associated
with the North as a place of freedom, for instance, in the Black
imagination,” Riché Richardson, a professor and chair of the
Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University said.
“So, the proverbial Mason Dixon line separating the North and
South historically was what differentiated Black movement and
possibilities for living.”
The connotation of the South is nuanced from the Black
perspective in that while there are 13 states that fall within the
region, its expansion over approximately 1,500 miles of land resulted
in each state having a unique culture. The South’s nomenclature
raises the question of why Arizona, New Mexico and other states are
not considered Southern through colloquial American terminology.
“I think that we can be limited though when we focus so
“
It’s not as simple
as the conventional
regional divide.
”
— Riché Richardson
50 SPRING ISSUE

narrowly on what we conventionally identify and correlate with the
South and the United States,” Richardson said. “It’s not as simple as
the conventional regional divides.”
Despite sharing the same southern hemisphere of the
southern United States geographically, the effects of the Civil War
and post-Civil War legislation dictate why New Mexico and Arizona
are part of the Southwest.
An article by The Washington Post did an analysis on Airbnb
listings and how the titles of properties created a border of what
society perceives the cultural border to be.
Of the states with the most listings with “southern”
mentioned were in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. However, the statistics also
indicated that some that had a small percentage of “southern” titled
listings were Maryland, Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana
and Kansas.
B. Brian Foster, associate professor of sociology at the
University of Virginia, cited the text Chocolate Cities by sociologists
Marcus Hunter and Zandria Robinson and their claims of “the
South” being everywhere, meaning the reference of things like
“racial violence and inequality” and a distinctive Black cultural
landscape and toolkit. It is through these ideologies that the cultural
understanding of the South can be conceptualized and understood.
“The definition Malcolm X famously gave the South in the
United States is anywhere below the Canadian border. Framing
the U.S. South more as a kind of ideological formation than a
geographical one,” Richerson said
There exists the notion that the racial tension in the U.S.
South spread to the North, despite its association with freedom in
multiple texts from before the Civil War.
The theory that the South is more than the geographical
region itself has become a root of how it’s perceived in the
Black community.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 51

Victor
Luckerson
Photo Courtesy of Victor Luckerson
Meet the author of the 2023 New
York Times notable book,
“Built from the Fire.”
By Jeffrey Kelly
Q
: You graduated in 2012, and have done
a lot in your career since, has there
been any parts of your post-college journey
that have been surprising to you or any “if
younger me could be me now” moments?
A
: I had a chance to present my work at
the Smithsonian’s National Museum of
African American History and Culture when
my book came out. What made it particularly
special was that the man who interviewed
me, John W. Franklin, is a descendant of
Greenwood and his grandfather is featured
in my book. That was a really special fullcircle
moment.
Q
: According to your website, you quit
working at The Ringer in 2019 and
moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to pursue writing
a book project about Tulsa’s Greenwood
District and the impacts of the 1921 Tulsa
Race Massacre that later turned into, “Built
From the Fire.” When did you know you
wanted to write this book, and what has the
process been like from idea to bestseller and
now a book tour?
52 SPRING ISSUE
A
: For me the project began only about
five years after I graduated from UA.
During lunch with a childhood friend back
in 2017, the film “12 Years a Slave” came up,
and my friend was explaining how he didn’t
want to watch it because he was tired of
only seeing black people being brutalized
in historical depictions. I asked him if he’d
heard about Black Wall Street in Tulsa,
and he hadn’t. I became really interested
in writing more about this place so that
a younger generation of black Americans
could be inspired by Greenwood’s story.
The next year (2018) I visited
Greenwood for the first time to write an
article for The Ringer. But on that trip, I
realized that the history was even more
buried than I’d realized. There were only
about two dozen people attending a vigil in
the neighborhood on the anniversary of the
massacre, while most of the people around
us were filing into a baseball stadium that
was built in Greenwood several years ago.
So, I saw firsthand how much the city of
Tulsa itself was ignoring this history too.
These two experiences are what
compelled me to make the leap of uprooting
my life and going to live in Tulsa for five
years to try to tell Greenwood’s story in a
more in-depth and authentic way. It’s been
an incredible learning experience and
really transformed how I approach writing
and journalism.
Q
: Were there any moments along
the way where you found yourself
overwhelmed with the amount of
information you were dealing with, and if
so, how did you manage it all?
A
: I made a separate Google Drive
account for all my research and
that was really helpful as it grew into a
searchable database over time. I really like
using spreadsheets--I will make a new
Google Sheet for just about anything, from
a person of interest to a topic I think will be
worth exploring in my book. Then as I am
poring over old newspapers, land records,
etc., I can toss any pertinent facts I find onto
the relevant spreadsheet. Later, when it’s
writing time, I can look at the spreadsheets
to see what facts and details I have to choose
from as I try to craft a coherent narrative. I

kind of invented this format on the fly when
I started working on the book and I now use
it for all my journalism projects.
Q
: What does it mean to you to have this
be your debut book?
A
: It’s humbling, honestly. As I was
putting the book together I thought a
lot about how vital the story of Greenwood
and the Tulsa Race Massacre is to
understanding our country’s history, and
how my book would bring greater depth to
that vital history. So I just hope I did justice
to the people captured in the book’s pages.
Q
: How did your background in
journalism inform your experience
writing “Built From the Fire”?
A
: The final third of the book takes
place in modern times, and I used
my reporting skills to chronicle what life
is like in Greenwood today. I observed
several protests after the murder of George
Floyd and also shadowing an Oklahoma
legislator who represents Greenwood in the
statehouse. So all of that was drawing on
lessons I first began learning while working
as a student reporter at UA.
Q
: What’s been your experience touring
this book, and has there been a
favorite stop or question you’ve gotten
from a reader along the way?
A
: The best stop was definitely the first
one in Greenwood itself right after the
book came out. So many of the people who
are in the book were there, and they were all
so excited to see their story being granted
this elevated platform. I think because I
lived in Tulsa for so long, the project hit
different for a lot of people compared to the
ones done by folks who flew in and out of
town occasionally.
“
Q
: When you wrote it, what was one
thing you hoped your reader would
take away from “Built From the Fire,” and
now, after it’s been out, has that changed,
and if so what would you want them to take
away from it now?
A
: I view Built From the Fire as the history
of a city in a lot of ways, and I think the
things that unfolded in Greenwood apply
to cities and black neighborhoods across
America. So I hope the reader will be able
to digest this work and think about how
their own cities experienced racial violence,
urban renewal, gentrification, and all the
other dynamics that the book explores.
Q
: What advice do you have for young
historians or writers who want to tell
the stories of their families or communities
but don’t know how or where to start?
A
:Two things. One, get an account on
newspapers.com and dig into the
historical newspaper archives in your city
or state. There’s an incredible amount
of history hidden in daily and weekly
newspapers that is now digitized and
easily searchable. Newspapers were the
most useful source I had for establishing a
factual, chronological narrative of events
in Greenwood.
Two, just start interviewing the
people in your family or community who
are likely to hold a lot of the history you’re
interested in learning. It doesn’t have to
be a big formal affair--it can be as simple
as, “Grandma, can you tell me what it was
like in your hometown when you were
growing up?” You can use the recorder on
your phone to capture their responses. The
main key to these kinds of interviews is to
be patient with folks and let them tell their
story in chronological order. It’s the easiest
way for people to recall facts and if you do
it that way you will end up hearing some
surprising information you didn’t even
know to ask about.
Q
: Were there any texts or writers that
you turned to during this time for
inspiration and clarity on what to do next?
A
: Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth
of Other Suns and Toni Morrison’s
Paradise. The Warmth of Other Suns is
nonfiction and became a model for me
for how to use journalistic skills to craft a
compelling historical narrative. Paradise is
fiction and really opened my eyes on how to
write about inner conflicts within a historic
black community honestly and candidly.
Q
: In an interview with the University
of Tulsa, while you were the 2023-
24 writer in residence, you talked about
wanting to delve “into the TU archives
to write a full account of the university’s
role in the Civil Rights Movement,” is this
another book in your future?
A
: That research was actually for an
article for TU’s executive team to have
and distribute to the school community
there. I haven’t announced my next book
project yet, but I hope it will help fill in
more of the gaps in folks’ understanding
of all the amazing things black people were
up to in between the Civil War and the Civil
Rights Movement.
”
I just hope I did justice to the
people captured in the
book’s pages.
— Victor Luckerson
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 53

54 SPRING ISSUE

Roaming
the South
T
he photos I took for this issue reminded me of what
my childhood was like in the South.
With each set of photos, I focused on a specific
sense, like the ones I would encounter smelling,
tasting and seeing while going about my day.
This collection is about seeing the beauty of the South in the
mundane and a reminder of the things I love about the South
including the landscapes, the food and the passion of those
cooking it.
Photographed and written by Xavier Routt
Model: DeCarlos Caple Jr.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 55

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1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 65

The roots
of
southern
pride
A discussion of the
complex relationship
between Black people
and their
Southern heritage.
By Kay Maxwell
66 SPRING ISSUE

Photo by Sidney Todd
Photo by Xavier Routt
Photo by Sidney Todd
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 67

T
he American South has a long, dark history regarding
its treatment of Black Americans. While discrimination
and other forms of oppression are not unique to the
South, its remnants are more present in this part of the
country. Despite this, many Black Americans call this region home
and are proud of their southern heritage.
The South is where 56% of the Black American population
resides as of 2023, according to the Pew Research Center. This
statistic has remained relatively stable over the last 25 years, with
54% of Black Americans living in the South in 2000.
Cydney York, a senior majoring in biology, and says that
discrimination and racist encounters are things one learns to accept.
“It’s a little been more intense down here than it is anywhere
else, because racism isn’t hidden here,” she said. “However, I’ve
definitely gotten used to it, so it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
York describes the presence of confederate flags as a
reminder of the racism that is still prevalent in the South.
“When my family from Chicago comes to visit, they’ll see
the giant confederate flags everywhere and look at me confused,”
she said. “And it reminds me, like, damn, that actually isn’t a normal
thing in other places.”
Leah Brewton, a senior majoring in public health at Albany
State University, was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. To her,
there are a lot of misconceptions about the South.
“A lot of people look at the South and think, ‘Oh, it’s so racist,
it’s so backwards,’” she said. “But that’s not always true. I mean,
yes, it’s racist sometimes, but I’m not getting called slurs all day
every day.”
Though many look at the South and believe that it is the sole
section of the country that remains outwardly racist, York points
out that racism is everywhere.
“The South is just like anywhere else,” she said. “It’s just that
the South is a little more intense, at least to me.”
Black Southern pride, for many, is not rooted in ignorance
of the history of the region. For some, the constant reminders of
oppression are a sore sight.
“Everywhere you turn, there’s a confederate flag,” Brewton
said. “But after a while you just forget about it, and it honestly
becomes, like, a marker of where to avoid.”
To reflect the constant reminders of racism in the South, the
Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama – created by the Equal
Justice Initiative – is located “on the site of a cotton warehouse
where enslaved Black people were forced to labor in bondage,”
according to their website.
Despite the constant physical reminders of slavery and racism
scattered around Southern landscapes, many Black Southerners
may not be aware of the history beyond what is taught in schools.
For some, pushing history behind them is how to cope with being
surrounded by racist reminders.
“No one wants to hear that the school that you go to used to
be a plantation, or something like that,” Brewton said. “It’s not like
people don’t want to know, but it’s easier to just push it to the side
and be like, comfortable. Like we all know the South is racist, we
don’t really want to think about it all day long, especially because it
happened. There’s nothing we can do about that.”
Still, Brewton acknowledges how knowing about history does
give her a sense of pride.
“Once you hear about all of the things that have happened
to us, our parents, grandparents, the whole race, it’s really amazing
that we’ve overcome so much,” she said.
York also suggests that Black Southern pride comes from the
resilience of the Black community despite the dark history.
“White people are never going to be comfortable with us
being here, so what?” she said.
Another source of Black Southern pride may be the cultural
impact onto the national consciousness.
“There’s a whole bunch of culture and stuff down here that
we’ve incorporated as Black people, so we’re going to be proud of it,”
York said. “And a lot of us, if not all of us, have moved on from the
racial tones and the stereotypes of [being] Black in the South.”
A lot of practices and culture within the Black community is
credited to the South. From cuisine to music to slang, the origins
of many aspects of Black culture leads back to the South. While this
has always been true, social media is beginning to understand the
multifaceted nature of the Black South.
“I think being Black in the South is becoming, not a
trend, but more popularized,” York said. “Especially with the
Cowboy Carter album...it’s great to show that Black people, there
isn’t just one group of Black people, we’re all different from
different communities.”
Beyoncé’s album, particularly its cover depicting her on a
horse waving an American flag, has been criticized for seemingly
praising America despite its poor historical treatment of
Black Americans.
“
68 SPRING ISSUE

Many others, however, believe this is an oversimplification of
the album.
According to Forbes, “centering oppression or continuously
shifting the conversation to pain and suffering, even when
discussing erased history and misinformation about Black people
and history, can be a form of anti-Blackness.”
Music and history scholars alike have praised Cowboy Carter
article as a bold statement about the importance of the Black
community in country music, a genre that has historically ignored
Black contributions. The album highlights various aspects of Black
culture, acknowledging how the South is the point of origin of a lot
of it.
While the South is not perfect, and has its many disadvantages,
the Black community remains strong and proud of their resilience
and history.
“The Black experience in the South is the Black experience
in the South,” York said, “Unless you’re Black in the South, you won’t
get it.”
There’s a whole bunch of culture and stuff
down here that we’ve incorporated as Black
people, so we’re going to be proud of it.
— Cydney York
”
Photo by Grant Sturdivant
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 69

‘THE SOUTH GOT
SOMETHING
TO SAY’
Graphic by Narazizahku94/Stock.Adobe.com
70 SPRING ISSUE

When discussing hip-hop many point to every region, but the South
continues making significant contributions to the genre.
By Kamari McIver
A
fter Beyonce,
simultaneously became
the third Black woman
to win album of the
year and the first one to win country album
of the year with “Cowboy Carter,” renewed
conversations surrounding the South’s
contribution to music have permeated
pop culture.
However, the South’s contribution to
hip-hop often isn’t a part of the conversation.
According to a Carnegie Hall article,
rap emerged from the Bronx, NY, in the
early 1970s, “redefining the soundscape and
character of American popular culture and
contributing to the growth of a billiondollar
entertainment industry;” yet the
sound didn’t remain in New York.
“Hip-hop was very much not just
from New York, but kind of defined by
New York City taste,” said Eric Weisbard, an
American studies professor at the University
of Alabama, who focuses on pop culture
and music.
At its origin hip-hop allowed
DJs, rappers and emcees to detail their
experiences as Black people living the city
life which at first alienated the South from
contributing to the sound due to its more
rural nature.
However, music doesn’t stay
contained in the region it’s created and as
hip-hop snaked its way throughout America
and landed in the South the sound took on
aspects of southern culture.
While the North capitalized off of
rudimentary “boom-bap” beats and complex
lyrics, Southern rap mutated into the highenergy,
bass-heavy party songs of Miami
rappers like 2 Live Crew, the hypnotic
instrumentals that Texas rappers like Pimp
C featured in their songs and the soulful/
seductive trap melodies from Atlanta
rappers like the Outkast.
With such a unique sound, the South
redefined hip-hop at its core, and in turn,
redefined the culture allowing the world
to glimpse an entirely different lifestyle
and aesthetic that went unrecognized and
unappreciated for decades.
From the diamond-encrusted
grillz, to the fusion of cowboy culture and
streetwear, the southern style resembled
nothing previously seen in mainstream
media, even the dances were unique. Dance
moves like the Bankhead Bounce and the
Shoulder Lean were just as instrumental to
southern rap as breakdancing in the North.
Most importantly, the true embodiment of
Southern hip-hop is the sense of pride in
being Southern.
“The South got something to say,”
said Andre 3000, the front man of the rap
group the OutKast, to resounding boos at
the 1995 Source Awards after he marched on
stage to accept the award for Best New Rap
Group, and he was right.
Southern hip-hop possessed a
raw energy, nestled in the residue left
by the residual effects of surviving
southern dilapidation.
“Instead of us running away from
who we are, we embraced it,” said Matthew
Simmons, an assistant professor of African
American Studies at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham.
Now rap music is populated with a
plethora of southern rappers championing
the South and many of them are women.
“Without women, there would not be
any hip-hop,” Simmons said.
Using their voices and influence to
speak about prominent topics, women have
been able to broaden hip-hop’s horizons and
push the boundaries of what people believe
it is to be a woman from the South.
Now more than ever, female
rappers from the South, like Megan
Thee Stallion, Latto, GloRilla, Doechii
and more, are dominating the rap scene
defying expectations, redefining creative
boundaries, and forging a place for
themselves in an industry that has often
overlooked them.
Their contributions have brought
Southern hip-hop to prestigious stages like
the Grammys and Oscars, influenced culture
and the business of the genre showcasing
its enduring influence. These trailblazers
keep the soul of Southern hip-hop vibrant
and thriving while showcasing the South’s
undeniable impact.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 71

Megan Thee Stallion
Megan Thee Stallion is a Grammy-winning rapper, singer, and
songwriter from Houston, Texas, known for her confident delivery,
empowering lyrics, and vibrant personality. She has achieved
multiple Billboard hits, and launched her own record label, Hot Girl
Production. She is also known for using her platform to advocate for
issues such as mental health, education, and
women’s rights.
Flo Milli
Flo Milli is an innovative rapper and songwriter from Mobile,
Alabama, known for her confident delivery and empowering lyrics.
She gained widespread recognition with her viral single “Beef
FloMix” in 2020. Flo Milli’s music often celebrates self-confidence and
resilience, resonating with a young, diverse audience.
Doechii
Doechii is a dynamic rapper, singer and songwriter from
Tampa, Florida, known for her genre-blending style and captivating
stage presence. Doechii’s bold lyrics and innovative music videos
have established her as a rising star in the music industry.
Doechii most recently became a part of history becoming one
of the three women to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album.
Monaleo
Monaleo is a rising Houston rapper and songwriter recognized
for her captivating storytelling and unique voice. She has swiftly
established herself in the hip-hop scene with her dynamic delivery
and relatable lyrics. Her music frequently delves into themes of
empowerment, resilience and authenticity.
72 SPRING ISSUE

Gucci Mane
Gucci Mane is an Atlanta rap icon, trap music pioneer and
influential entrepreneur. Emerging in the mid-2000s, he helped
shape modern trap music with his raw lyrics, street storytelling,
and prolific mixtape releases.
Left Eye
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was a groundbreaking rapper, singer, and
songwriter, best known as a member of the iconic hip-hop/R&B group TLC,
which was formed in Atlanta, Georgia.
She was celebrated for her distinctive voice, creative lyrics and bold
personality. Multi-Grammy Award winner and overall visionary, Lisa Lopes
remains a celebrated figure in music history, known for her influence on hiphop
and R&B, as well as her dedication to empowering women and addressing
social issues.
Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott is a trailblazing Virginian rapper, singer,
songwriter, and producer, known for her innovative music, futuristic
visuals, and genre-defying style. Her partnership with Timbaland
created a groundbreaking sound that set her apart. Elliott has won
four Grammys, including Best Female Rap Performance. She has sold
over 29 million records worldwide and became the first female rapper
inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Juvenile
Juvenile is a New Orleans rapper best known for his 4x
platnum album, 400 Degreez. As a founding member in the
popular group Hot Boys, and Cash Money Records, Juvenile helped
bring New Orleans bounce music to the mainstream.
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 73

TWIRL & TRUMPH
Meet the multifaceted majorette dance team
drawing inspiration from HBCU traditions to
create a sense of community on campus.
By Elise Bates
74 SPRING ISSUE

I
n 2017, the Crimson Belles, an HBCU auxiliary-style
dance team, pranced onto the University of Alabama’s
campus to provide a welcoming space for those who
appreciate this dance tradition.
“Growing up my biggest inspiration was watching this show
called ‘Bring It’ and that really sparked my interest in majorette
dancing,” said Charity Rodgers, a Crimson Belle dancer and a junior
majoring in political science. “So, seeing that again especially at a
[Predominantly White Institution] that really inspired me to get
back into it just knowing that I have that safe space here at Alabama.”
Rodgers said Crimson Belles considers themselves to be a
majorette dance team because majority of their “stands dances” are
formulated and inspired by traditional HBCU dance teams.
Black people have a long and rich history with auxiliary
dance teams.
According to ABC News, the first known majorette
performance was done in 1968 at the Orange Blossom Classic, an
annual football game for Historical Black Colleges and Universities,
by Alcorn State University’s Golden Girl majorette team.
Rodgers said the Crimson Belles, initially formed as an
auxiliary-style dance group, integrates various dance genres,
including “jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, and other styles into
majorette dancing.”
“It’s kind of like building our own HBCU within a PWI and
building our safe space for Black women to be able to dance and do
the things that we love,” Rodgers said.
The team’s inspirations are drawn from previous members,
coaches, dance performances, the historical importance of auxiliary
dance, and personal experiences.
Being a member of the team provides an opportunity to serve
as a role model for other aspiring auxiliary dancers on campus or
simply those who admire the art form. This is particularly significant
at a school like the University of Alabama, where such groups are
uncommon, making it an honor and a valuable experience.
“Crimson Belles are a form of art as well as black excellence,
it shows young Black girls they can do whatever they put their mind
to,” said Jamira Bogan, a sophomore majoring in political science. “I
think black representation today is more crucial than ever. Groups
like them are necessary.”
The Crimson Belles enriches the university environment by
fostering an inclusive and secure atmosphere for students.
Their presence is felt through captivating performances at
key campus events, including homecoming festivities, step shows,
ONYX and dance classes or tryouts.
“Whenever I’ve seen them, they always add a lot to whatever
event that they are at,” Bogan said. “They have a lot of poise. They
are all very great dancers. You know’ it just adds a feeling of like
oh okay this is fun. It adds atmosphere to the events. I’m excited
whenever I see ‘oh the Crimson Belles’ will be there.”
The Crimson Belles also host events themselves. In February,
they hosted “Slow Stand,” a dance class for the UA community,
encouraging the community to get more involved with dance.
Beyond their performances, the Crimson Belles maintain an
active presence on social media platforms such as Instagram and
TikTok, providing year-round updates and insights.
They have also proven their commitment to service in the
Photos by Melanee Moore
Graphic by dream_master-stock.adobe.com
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 75

community. In January, several of the Belles attended the MLK Jr.
Unity Walk along with several other organizations on campus.
This dedication to inclusivity resonates with the student
body, aligning with the organization’s mission of having a safe space
for majorette dancers. If dance isn’t of interest, there’s something
that will suit you.
“There’s something for someone everywhere,” said Layci
Smith, the team’s assistant coach and former captain.
This cultivates a safe space for new experiences, lasting
friendship and professional networking opportunities.
For those interested in being a part of the team, Smith
said stay tuned to their social media for upcoming tryout
announcements and the preliminary clinics.
“If dance is your passion and you have a majorette
background and you want to continue doing majorette, young
ladies or young men, please come and join we are always open to
new members. We love to see different things, different people,
different faces,” Smith said. “And we definitely want to make sure
that we have a safe space for our young individuals that are on
campus because we do know with everything going on we do
need those safe spaces.”
”
Whenever I’ve seen them, they always add a lot to
whatever event that they’re at.
— Jamira Bogan
Photo Courtesy of The Crimson Belles
76 SPRING ISSUE

Graphic by Lyric Talley
Photo Courtesy of The Crimson Belles
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 77

the erasure
of
black
history
Schools across the South are cutting Black history lessons.
By Kay Maxwell
78 SPRING ISSUE

Graphic by Lyric Talley
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 79

T
eaching Black history in classrooms has been a highly
debated topic for years. While supporters argue
that Black history is a part of American history and
should be taught, those who oppose it argue that it is
too divisive.
This debate is especially pervasive in the South, as a number
of laws have passed recently to limit teaching Black history in
primary and secondary schools.
In 2023, The College Board, a national organization, reworked
its Advanced Placement course in African American Studies after
conservatives took issue with the recommended course material.
The course was created to “[cover] Black history through an
interdisciplinary lens, touching on historical events and figures, as
well as music, art, literature and culture,” according to an article by
USA Today.
“We are not going to use your tax dollars to teach our kids
to hate this country or to hate each other,” said Ron DeSantis,
Governor of Florida, in 2022. He has held strong in his stance against
teaching racism in schools and has emerged as a leading voice in
its opposition.
DeSantis argues that the Black history course pushes an
agenda onto schoolchildren and teaches topics that have little
educational value.
“This course on Black history, what are — one of what’s one of
the lessons about? Queer theory,” DeSantis said in a November 2022
speech. “Now, who would say that an important part of Black history
is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids.
And so, when you look to see they have stuff about intersectionality,
abolishing prisons, that’s a political agenda.”
Despite reworking the course material, offering less divisive
options for teachers to explore in classrooms, many states still take
issue with the course content and have taken various steps to limit
it. In 2024, Georgia’s Superintendents office denied state funding
for school districts to offer the class to its students.
In 2022, DeSantis signed into law the Stop WOKE Act, which
aims to prohibit Florida schools and businesses from teaching
certain concepts or topics related to race.
“It was intended to prevent teachings or mandatory
workplace activities that suggest a person is privileged or oppressed
based on their race, color, sex or national origin,” according to CNN.
Danielle Carrasquero, communications manager of the Equal
Justice Initiative, said that Black history is American history, and one
cannot be taught without the other.
“We cannot understand the story of America without
knowing the history of racial injustice that has plagued our nation,”
she said.
Carrasquero said that the nation is still feeling
the effects of slavery to this day, and it is important to
understand why.
“The cruelty and horrors of slavery culminated in a tragic
civil war and the legacy of slavery created lasting challenges,” she
said. “The struggle to treat Black people equally and fairly following
the Civil War, denying them voting rights, subjecting millions to
terror violence and lynching, and finally codifying a legal order that
80 SPRING ISSUE

was aligned with racial hierarchy is part of American history.”
Many students and educators oppose the cuts to Black
history in classrooms, understanding its value. For some students,
government limits on Black history reflect a disdain for the Black
community.
“How is our history an elective and not a requirement?” said
Cydney York, a senior majoring in biology.
Following the state government funding cuts in Georgia, the
Atlanta Public School (APS) district assured students and parents
that the course would still be available to interested students.
“Atlanta Public Schools’ charter system status gives us the
flexibility to continue offering Advanced Placement (AP) African
American Studies, even though it will not be supported with state
funding,” the district said in a statement. “APS will provide the
course to students with local funds. AP African-American Studies
will continue to count for credit toward graduation. This district
is committed to providing rigorous instruction that helps our
students become globally-minded citizens.”
In Florida, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a
permanent injunction against the parts of the Stop WOKE Act that
addressed workplace training. The order states that the law “violates
free speech rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to
the U.S. Constitution.”
Here at The University of Alabama, the department of
gender and race studies has committed to teaching Black history
outside of the classroom with the Hallowed Grounds Tour. This tour
aims to educate people on the university’s history of slavery and
“
discrimination, and how it connects to the current campus.
“People respond enthusiastically to it,” said Erin Stoneking,
an assistant professor in the department of gender and race studies.
“There’s a lot that gets revealed that I think people are sort of
shocked is not part of a larger conversation.”
To Stoneking, the tours are a way for students, faculty, and
interested visitors to learn more about the campus around them,
and the ways that remnants of the discrimination against Black
people is still very present.
“American history is slavery,” York said. “American history is
racism. You can’t skip over the f------ bad parts because it makes you
feel bad.”
Though there has been a lot of pushback against these bans,
several laws are still being produced that limit the teachings of Black
history in classrooms. In June of 2024, South Carolina implemented
one of the most restrictive book bans in the country, limiting
access to books that explore race, sexuality, or anything considered
“contentious or divisive,” according to The Guardian.
Despite this, many educators and students have stood firm in
their opposition of these bans, arguing that it is their right to learn
about the truth of history.
We can not ignore it, ban it or run from it, it must
be learned, confronted and addressed,” Carrasquero said.
“You will not be well-educated or well-informed if your
history books skip over parts of history that are difficult
and challenging.”
We cannot understand the story of America without
knowing the history of racial injustice that has plagued
our nation.
— Danielle Carrasquero
”
1956MAGAZINE.UA.EDU 81

82 SPRING ISSUE

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2023-24 AWARDS
Associated Collegiate Press Fall 2023 Conference
Honorable Mention, Feature Photo, Tyler Hogan
Associated Collegiate Press Best of Show 2024
First Place, Feature Magazine
College Media Association Apple Awards 2024
First Place, Best Magazine Cover, Division I
Southeast Journalism Conference 2024
Second Place, Best Magazine
Third Place, Best Magazine Writer, Kay Maxwell
Fifth Place, Best Feature Writer, Kay Maxwell
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84 SPRING ISSUE