Recounted through a hybrid writing style, incorporating documentary storytelling methods, as well as more traditional academic research, this thesis examines Black women’s history in basketball as a microcosm of the greater socio-political history of the United States. Through three poignant time periods, this work depicts Black women’s dominance and contradictory media representation in the sport. I argue that the amount and type of coverage these women receive, in real time and historically, mirrors the broader sociopolitical environment in the United States, ultimately fostering and nurturing their institutional erasure. In documenting this phenomenon, it is my active intention not only to highlight the systemic racism that repeatedly subjugates and oppresses Black women, but also to shine much deserved light on the impressive and inspirational under-told stories of some of these amazing women.

Keywords: erasure, Black women, women’s basketball, media representation, Ora Washington, Pearl Moore, Lusia Harris, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark.

Threading a Nation: The Golden Stitches of Freedom Across the Fabric of Post-Independence Ghana explores how fashion became a political and cultural language in Ghana during the Nkrumah era (1957–1966). Through garments like the batakari, European couture, and wax print, this thesis examines how clothing functioned as both a tool of unity and a site of contradiction, balancing colonial legacies with national identity.

Drawing on archival sources, visual analysis, and personal reflection, it argues that fashion was not merely aesthetic but central to Ghana’s post-independence identity. From the runway to the marketplace, fashion was a performance of modernity, pride, resistance, and belonging.

Ultimately, this project aims to show that Ghana’s freedom was not only declared in speeches, but sewn into seams. Fashion, like nationhood, was negotiated: woven from inherited threads, stitched with intention, and worn with meaning.