Date of Award
5-13-2021
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
African-American Studies
First Advisor
Akinyele Umoja
Second Advisor
Lia Bascomb
Third Advisor
Lakeyta Monique Bonnette-Bailey
Abstract
From the 1980s to 2000, Atlanta’s Freaknik festival was a unique Black spring break celebration that attracted thousands of Black college students and young partygoers to the city for one weekend. In its two-decade existence, this event became a Black cultural phenomenon centering music, fashion, food, and social gathering that remains in the historical memory of an entire generation of Black Americans in the twentieth century. Previous scholars have used Freaknik as a comparative space to make analytical arguments surrounding culture, gender, and politics. However, this intrinsic collective case study will provide an extensive historical account of Freaknik that focuses on Black women’s experiences and will place them in their sociopolitical, cultural, and racial context. Through archival research and oral histories, this case explores the intersectional components in Black women’s experiences at Freaknik and reveal the impact of their convergence on Black women’s lives in Atlanta.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/22766865
Recommended Citation
Oglesby, Kimberly K., "What Happens at Freaknic Cannot Stay at Freaknik: Centering Black Women's Stories at Atlanta's Black College Spring Break (1983-2000)." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2021.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/22766865
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