Of Many Strands - The Society of Undergraduate Humanities Publications

The Society of Undergraduate Humanities Publications

Sign in Subscribe

Of Many Strands

In June 2020, The Yale Historical Review founded The 1701 Project, an ongoing program that provides a space for repressed narratives at Yale and beyond. Over the summer, we expanded this dialogue to SUHP institutions, titling the venture Of Many Strands, a reference to a quotation in Invisible Man. As journals of research, we assume our duty to share forgotten stories with our readers. This page serves as a repository for these reflections across disciplines and schools.

Rewriting History: Reworking the Black Panther Party’s Image

Of Many Strands

Rewriting History: Reworking the Black Panther Party’s Image

Written by Nadean Alnajjar, Yale 22' Edited by Alex Halberstam, Yale 22' The Black Panther Party (BPP) only exists in our recollection today either as an evocation of the Marvel Universe’s Wakanda, or a radically militant Black organization from the 1960s. Representations of the BPP falsely characterize

The USC Village:
What Did $700 Million Accomplish?

Of Many Strands

The USC Village: What Did $700 Million Accomplish?

Written by Julianne Vu, USC 21' In the midst of a pandemic, USC Village is unnervingly empty and quiet. Under any other circumstances, as summer goes out in a blaze of heat and leaves behind the milder temperatures of autumn, this time in the semester would find students clogging

Defenses of Marshall Dean Ignore Inclusivity Issues

Of Many Strands

Defenses of Marshall Dean Ignore Inclusivity Issues

Written by Joseph Cho, USC 21' In December 2018, the USC Board of Trustees voted in support of Interim President Wanda Austin’s termination of Marshall School of Business Dean James Ellis. This decision prompted several University alumni and the USC Marshall Board of Leaders to pen strongly-worded letters

Calling for Inclusivity in Exclusivity: A Look at Greek Life and USC

Of Many Strands

Calling for Inclusivity in Exclusivity: A Look at Greek Life and USC

By Trinity Yang, USC 23' I never thought Greek life was for me. To me, the invitation of a sorority bid was being asked to sit at a table that was never made to accommodate an unpopular, non-white introvert like me. To enter a world of drama, drinking, and

Asian Fragility

Of Many Strands

Asian Fragility

By Judy Song, USC 22' “Are Asian Americans even people of color?” As a Korean American, this is a question I have come face to face with at least once in my journey to self-actualization. Because the question seems to just barely scratch the surface of the Asian American

Trojan Horses:
“Urban Renewal,” Race, Class, and Displacement in USC Campus Expansion, 1961-2017

Of Many Strands

Trojan Horses: “Urban Renewal,” Race, Class, and Displacement in USC Campus Expansion, 1961-2017

Jack Casey, USC 22' Since the 1880 founding of the University of Southern California, there have been ebbs and flows of change and migration to the size and style of its campus. The most significant of these was the city’s radical transformation from a colonial Hispanic town to

Perpetua Tenibris on 28th Street:
Patterns of Racist Behavior in Greek-Letter Organizations at the University of Southern California

Of Many Strands

Perpetua Tenibris on 28th Street: Patterns of Racist Behavior in Greek-Letter Organizations at the University of Southern California

By Giacomo Green, USC 22' On October 24th, 1988 the Daily Trojan reported that on the previous Thursday, several pledges of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity distributed flyers around the University of Southern California advertising a “Slave Auction”. These flyers included a ‘Fiji Man’ logo, a caricature of a

A Ballad and a Riot: Brooks’ Shift in Style and Her Exploration of a Budding Black Autonomy

Of Many Strands

A Ballad and a Riot: Brooks’ Shift in Style and Her Exploration of a Budding Black Autonomy

Written by Lydia Burleson, Yale 21' Edited by Jisoo Choi, Yale 22' In the time before and during the Civil Rights Movement, Gwendolyn Brooks used her poetry to explore the shifting concept of Black agency, specifically the freedom of choice and movement for Black individuals within a white-dominated

Trying to Make It:
The Rise, Collapse, and Attempted Revival of the American Dream during the 1992 Uprising in Los Angeles

Of Many Strands Featured

Trying to Make It: The Rise, Collapse, and Attempted Revival of the American Dream during the 1992 Uprising in Los Angeles

By Tommy Nguyen, USC 22' Introduction “We are not thugs. We are respectable residents. We vote, we raise our children, we send them to school, we teach them right, we take them to church, we try to participate in the American Dream”1 -Maria Stanley testifying during the Webster

Implicit Bias:
Why and How We Need to Alter the Criminal Jury System

Of Many Strands

Implicit Bias: Why and How We Need to Alter the Criminal Jury System

Alexis Altshuler, USC 21' What if I told you that the single most addressable threat to the U.S. criminal justice system was your own subconscious? Americans have advocated for reform of the judicial system since its inception, usually in the form of dramatic upheaval of the entire structure.

Redlining:
Legal Segregation and its After Effects on African Americans During COVID-19

Of Many Strands

Redlining: Legal Segregation and its After Effects on African Americans During COVID-19

By: Chynna Hinrichsen, USC 22' INTRODUCTION COVID-19 has exposed a legacy of systemic racism in the United States. African Americans only account for 13.4% of the U.S. population yet make up nearly half of COVID-19 cases and almost 60% of deaths.1 The disproportionate rate of infection

The Sugar of The Juice: O.J.:
Made in America, Race, and Celebrity Persona

Of Many Strands

The Sugar of The Juice: O.J.: Made in America, Race, and Celebrity Persona

By Maria Lentz, USC, 23' At the advent of the 20th century, the creation of the film camera ushered in a new age of entertainment. Hollywood movies portrayed characters in fantastical realism, glorifying actors on the silver screen.1 In his book The Star System: Hollywood’s Production of

Camille Delaney-McNeil on “Music for Social Change”

Of Many Strands

Camille Delaney-McNeil on “Music for Social Change”

In August 2020, Jisoo Choi sat down with Camille Delaney-Mcneil, Director of Programs with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra OrchKids. Jisoo Choi: Could you briefly describe what OrchKids does with respect to its programs and the impact it seeks to have? Camille Delaney-McNeil: OrchKids, in short, is a “music for social

Do No Harm or Doing More Harm than Good? – How Doctors are Contributing to Eating Disorders Among Black Women

Of Many Strands

Do No Harm or Doing More Harm than Good? – How Doctors are Contributing to Eating Disorders Among Black Women

Written by Polly Moser, Stanford 22' Edited by Fiona Benson, Yale 22', Meghan Gupta, Yale 21', and Mary Tate, Yale 21' For many, an image of the archetypal eating disorder patient is easy to bring to mind; she is female, White, young, and painfully thin. This

Defining the Abstract: Anti-Blackness and Black Lives Matter

Of Many Strands

Defining the Abstract: Anti-Blackness and Black Lives Matter

Interview by John Cao, Northwestern 22' Written by Catherine Campusano, Northwestern 23' In a conversation originally centered around racism in the United States, Professor Marquis Bey begins with an articulation of the distinction between racism and anti-Blackness now commonplace in academic African American studies. This notion of ‘anti-Blackness’

Timeliness and Timelessness in Zadie Smith's Intimations

Of Many Strands

Timeliness and Timelessness in Zadie Smith's Intimations

Written by Esther Reichek, Yale 23' Edited by Emma Gray, Yale 21' When I first opened Zadie Smith’s Intimati ons: Six Essays (Penguin, 112 pp., $10.95, July 2020), I felt disappointed. Not by the length – barely 100 pages of text – but by the dimensions. Each page

Ida B. Wells and Her Fight for Positive Black Representation

Of Many Strands

Ida B. Wells and Her Fight for Positive Black Representation

Written by Leigh Logan, Yale 21' Edited by Serena Cho, Yale 21' and Yassi Xiong, Yale 22' After Emancipation in 1863, white supremacists sought to replicate oppression during the period of chattel slavery. They created the rape/lynch myth, which saw black men as violent predators of

The Statue of Liberty: A Buried Legacy

Of Many Strands

The Statue of Liberty: A Buried Legacy

Written by Emma Gray, Yale 21' Edited by Esther Reichek, Yale 23' In 1871, architect Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi arrived in New York with a project in mind, a project so ambitious that he wrote to his mother that she should not share it lest he “would appear eccentric,

Plotting Power: Race, Class and Gender in Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age

Of Many Strands

Plotting Power: Race, Class and Gender in Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age

Interview by Henry Jacob, Yale 21' Transcription by Grace Blaxill, Yale 22' YHR: A knot of desire links Alex, Emira, and Kelley. Alex and Kelley’s use of the word “crush” and “love” reveal this connection. I will draw four quotations to make this triangle more visible. A

Interrogating White Nostalgia: Reflections on Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong

Of Many Strands

Interrogating White Nostalgia: Reflections on Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong

Written by Jisoo Choi, Yale 22' Edited by Lydia Burleson, Yale 21' Cathy Park Hong's recent book of essays, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, has been on nearly every reading list this summer, cropping up on colorful Instagram posts and reviews of 2020 releases. I

Elizabeth Alexander on the intersections of identities

Of Many Strands

Elizabeth Alexander on the intersections of identities

Interview by Alexandra McCraven, Yale 21' and Henry Jacob, Yale 21' Transcription by Grace Blaxill, Yale 22' Alex McCraven: Yes, I'm really curious about how you envision philanthropy as an agent for social change and how you see this new shift of the Mellon Foundation

Monumentality and Counter-Monumentality: How to Redress the White Social Legacy

Of Many Strands

Monumentality and Counter-Monumentality: How to Redress the White Social Legacy

Written by Nathalie Beauchamps, Yale 21' Edited by Fiona Benson, Yale 22' and Esther Reichek, Yale 23' The monument in America represents and ideologizes; it embodies value. Cheryl I. Harris, J.D. discusses the idea of a “valued social identity” in her article “Whiteness as Property.” This

L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy on how suburban spaces, sexism, and COVID affect the Black community

Of Many Strands

L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy on how suburban spaces, sexism, and COVID affect the Black community

Interview by Henry Jacob, Yale 21' Transcription by Nick Jacobson, Yale 23' YHR: You used the phrase “endangered species” to describe the political climate of your formative years. With COVID-19 a new form of vulnerability has emerged. Please discuss how social conditions enable this pandemic to disproportionately affect

Of Many Strands

"You Can't Unknow:" A Conversation with Ashley Farmer on Inequality and Intellectual Production

Interview by Henry Jacob, Yale 21' Transcription by Jared Brunner, Yale 22' YHR: Through your conversations with these activists you learned that some of the best sources remain undiscovered. On the topic of repressed perspectives, I want to shift our conversation to the archive. In 2018, you wrote

Visibility and Power: An 18th Century Conversation Piece

Of Many Strands

Visibility and Power: An 18th Century Conversation Piece

Written by Annie Roberts, Yale 21' Edited by Meghanlata Gupta, Yale 21' and Eva Magyar, Yale 22' A portrait of three men seated around a small wooden table hangs on the walls of the Yale Center for British Art. Even from a quick glance the sitters’ importance