Diversity Matters

Emily Allen Williams is Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

• Introduction: Finding Our Way Together: Discussions on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and AccessEmily Allen Williams, EditorPart 1: Interrogations of Blackness, Whiteness, Racism, and Beyond: Historical and 21st Century ConsiderationsChapter One: Black Lives Matter: Dismantling Racism and Rewriting History in the Confederate Monuments Nancy Wellington BookhartChapter Two: The Black Lives Matter Movement and Anglophone African Caribbean Impact: Transposition of the Caribbean Experience in the Complexities of the African American ContextSharon Albert HonoreChapter Three: The New Back to Africa Movement: The Black Diaspora Seeking Opportunity and Refuge in the MotherlandKarl Ellis JohnsonPart 2: Excluded or Included? African American, Non-Conformist, and TransgenderChapter Four: (Re)Defining Hi-stories: Conducting and Preserving Oral Histories in Africana StudiesCatherine L. AdamsChapter Five: Did You Bring Me Here to Be Like You? Philosophizing About Diversity, Equity, and InclusionAnthony Sean NealChapter Six: Missing the Whole Picture: A Content Analysis of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Characters in Children’s LiteratureEden-Reneé Hayes and Saisha MananChapter Seven: Organizational Culture: Pivoting on DEIWillette NealChapter Eight: Approaching Diversity, Equity, and Race Work in 21st Century AmericaGwendolyn VanSantPart 3: Challenging 21st Century Notions of Diversity on College and University CampusesChapter Nine: Black Lives Matter on Campus: Choreographing Protest Peter A. CampbellChapter Ten: Black Maleness at a Public Regional UniversityMark Wagner and Katherine L. Cleary Chapter Eleven: Meta-Reflections: Teaching Black Psychology at a Predominately White Undergraduate InstitutionSandra Virginia Gonsalves-DomondChapter Twelve: The Case for Inclusive Instructional Design Samantha CalamariIndexAbout the Contributors

This collection centers one of the most significant issues in American society today—diversity. As headlines continue to relay news about democracy in peril or police violence, conversations about diversity become a sine qua non that will help define Americans' shared future. As part of this vital conversation, this text functions as a conduit enabling readers to interpret highly complex issues while affirming why engaging with them is so important. Contributors ponder how Americans move from talking to doing, emphasizing the need for action now by highlighting the events that led to the January 6 insurrection. The book succeeds in underscoring this urgency by what Williams calls “tilling the ground”—excavating and elevating the complex layers of pressing diversity matters through stirring narratives. For instance, Nancy Wellington Bookhart examines the Black Lives Matter movement's influence on the fight against racism. Willette Neal discusses the mutually constitutive nature of organizational culture and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Samantha Calamari’s final chapter is also a classic example of “tilling the ground,” focusing on inclusive instructional design, crucial to advancing DEI in educational institutions. This is a useful resource for sociology, organizational studies, communication studies, public policy, history, and higher education administration. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.