5 research outputs found

    Early Black Poetry, Social Justice, and Black Children: Receptions of Child Activism in African American Literary History

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    In spite of the substantial amount of critical work that has been produced on the recovery of early African American literature in the last few decades, our representations of black authors are still limited. Current studies of early African American poets privilege the identification of African American literature with resistance to slavery. This identification has persisted and has made the field one-dimensional. My dissertation provides reception histories of four early black poets—Phillis Wheatley, George Moses Horton, Frances Harper, and Paul Laurence Dunbar—to argue for and present an expansive understanding of African American literature. A thorough examination of these authors’ circulation histories reveal that editors engaged in children’s literature, a topic that is often overlooked in African American literary history. I argue that editors and sometimes poets recirculated black poetry in the interest of training children for social justice activism. This topic requires scholars to reconsider the complex cultural influences that shape their representations of early black authors; it will also allow for the inclusion of early black authors into white spaces. Forgetting these histories further deepens the gaps between recovered and unrecovered works. Scholars often represent Wheatley as a poet concerned with appropriating western language or subtly resisting western hegemony. Chapter one argues for the importance of Wheatley’s neglected poems by examining an unrecognized circulation history. My research reveals how various kinds of readers often repurposed Wheatley’s poems to provide varying forms of moral uplift that subjugated black children to dominant political forces. By using Arthur Donaldson’s Juvenile Magazine (1811, 1813), Freedom’s Journal (1827-1829), and even The Upward Path (1920), just to name a few, I uncover the ways editors used Wheatley’s moral poetry to teach varying forms of uplift to black children. My second chapter will redirect attention back to Horton as a nature poet for black children to recharacterize Horton’s importance in shaping black identities. Horton’s obscurity attests to the ways scholars have characterized his poetry as simply derivative of white models of poetry. I examine publications such as Eliza Follen’s juvenile magazine, The Child’s Friend (1843-1858), and Lydia Marie Child’s The Freedmen’s Book (1865) to argue that Horton’s poetry was used to teach black and white children rhyme and romantic ideations of nature to reshape their relationship to the turbulent American landscape of nineteenth-century America. Chapter three reorients Harper’s poems in the context of children’s literature to reimagine Harper not only as an advocate for black and white adults, but for children as well. My research refocuses commonly anthologized poems to consider how they speak to black children in the mid-nineteenth and late-twentieth centuries. The Anglo-African Magazine (1859-1860), William Wells Brown’s The Black Man (1863), and The Freedmen’s Book (1865), among others attest to the ways Harper’s poems were reimagined for child audiences. Chapter four relocates Dunbar in contexts of children’s literature that sought to make Dunbar the ideal early black writer for black children. Relocating Dunbar as a children’s poet rouses more scholarly attention toward Dunbar’s Christmas poems and poems that went beyond racial themes. My analysis of Readings from Negro Authors (1931) and Christmas Gif’(1965) enables an unique perspective on Dunbar’s representation. My conclusion surveys the patterns that emerge in the representations of Wheatley, Horton, Harper, and Dunbar in several American literature anthologies and newspapers throughout four different periods. The collections, Over the River and Through the Wood (2014) and Who Writes for Black Children (2017) have garnered attention for topics of early black children’s poets within African American literature, though more work remains to be done in ciphering through the messiness of nineteenth-century periodical culture

    Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

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    IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

    Teaching Counterstorytelling with Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone

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    The fantasy genre continues to lack cultural and racial diversity in many of its stories which can lead to problematic depictions of marginalized characters. When BIPOC characters do not appear as full and complex individuals, they often remain marginal to the story. Counterstorytelling, a tenet of Critical Race Theory (CRT), can re-center BIPOC experiences and even help teachers develop assignments that de-center Eurocentrism in writing. Counternarratives, or stories that center marginalized people’s experiences, are useful tools for engaging students in English classes. Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone (2018) serves as a great example of a Counterstory and represents one approach to helping students engage with stories that feature Black protagonists who fight for equity and justice. This presentation will highlight useful strategies, such as assignment prompts, handouts, and a rubric, to introduce students to Counterstorytelling as a theoretical concept. Additionally, it will discuss how teachers can use Children of Blood and Bone to support antiracist pedagogy in high school literature classes

    Appalachian Diverse Populations

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    Appalachia has an often hidden history of diverse populations from the late 19th century and beyond. The region has vibrant minority communities who enrich our culture and are imagining new and attainable futures for themselves and for Appalachia. This part of the exhibit showcases only four of many such groups: Indigenous Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and LGBTQ+ Appalachians

    Effect of Antiplatelet Therapy on Survival and Organ Support–Free Days in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19