This study explores racial-ethnic identity and academic achievement of five young African American men in 11th and 12th grade in an urban pilot high school. Data gathered through individual and group interviews and a questionnaire were analyzed to understand how academically successful African American male adolescents interpret their social and academic lives to achieve school success while also maintaining a healthy racial-ethnic identity (HREI). The findings reveal that the young men developed layered and complex notions of what it means to be African American, male, and successful against the backdrop of having achieved a HREI within a nurturing school environment.
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