Successful Undergraduate African American Men's Navigation and Negotiation of Academic and Social Counter-Spaces as Adaptation to Racism at Historically White Institutions

Abstract

Extant research has extensively illuminated African American men's experiences with racism at historically White institutions. Their efforts to persist and graduate meant many of them learned to navigate and respond to racism on and off campus. Such learned behavior has necessitated adopting coping mechanisms to acculturate to the social, cultural, and academic environments within and surrounding institutions of higher education. Drawn from a larger study, this qualitative case study explored the experiences and the strategies used by two participants as they self-navigated the institution's support programs, affinity groups, and campus organizations to achieve personal and academic success. Academically persistent and successful African American men formed unique personal networks; sought out support; and received help from African American organizations, family members, faculty members, and staff members. This research advances a growing body of literature focusing on the success strategies of undergraduate African American men pursuing their educational goals at historically White institutions.

Keywords

African American males academic persistence racism historically White institution personal networks

Introduction

Undergraduate African American men who have earned admission to a college or university tacitly affirm their prior educational successes. Earning admission to any college or university is a signal that these individuals have developed a set of successful academic, social, and personal skills. However, this is especially true for those entering historically White institutions (HWI; for using the term HWI over predominantly White institution, see Smith, Allen, & Danley, 2007, p. 576) because of the unique nature of this skill set. Researchers have demonstrated that even when controlling for other factors at HWIs, such as high school grade point average and economic status, “Black students face challenges beyond academic preparation and [academic] ability that affect their chances to succeed at college” (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010, p. 311). For example, in addition to the difficulties of adjusting to new matriculation patterns and other academic challenges, undergraduate African American men also have encountered the additional burden of navigating campus racism (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012, pp. 7–8). Ostensibly, this campus racism exists because collegiate environments often reflect larger social values that include racism and racial prejudice. This situation suggests that in order to adapt to campus racism, African American men are often required to augment the skills, abilities, and success strategies that brought them to the successful point of college admission. This research study is an effort to explore these success strategies in more detail as well as the skill sets African American men develop in relationship to educational structures, formal and informal programming, affinity groupings, counter-spaces, and organizational support systems at HWI that have been increasingly effective in comparison to those currently in existence. In addition, this study responds to the call for additional formal research on the success strategies of African American men.

Summary of the Findings

The findings of this study indicated that successful undergraduate African American men formed personal support networks within various campus programs, support groups, and campus organizations by navigating their unique path through them without being directed by the institution or directed by representatives of these campus programs. While they may have been aided by what Harper (2012a) has referred to as “peer pedagogies,” a relational process through which African American men teach “each other how to skillfully navigate racist encounters on campus” (p. 668), they nevertheless were individually challenged to establish meeting locations and engage in systematic and significant interactions among themselves and members of other campus entities. As a result, they were able to navigate organizations and entities that were not specifically dedicated to helping undergraduate African American men.

Racism, Scholarship, and Undergraduate African American Men

Research has clearly indicated that undergraduate African American men perceive racism to be a significant part of their experience at HWIs (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002; Harper, 2009, 2013; Harper & Davis, 2012; Moore, Madison-Colmore, & Smith, 2003; Quaye, Griffin, & Museus, 2015). However, recognition of racism as a significant factor has not always been forthcoming or evident within inquiries into persistence rates and graduation rates of African American men. Historically, African American men have experienced one of the lowest rates of success compared with students from other demographic populations—that is, 35% nationwide, determined by 6-year graduation rates (Musu-Gillette et al., 2017). While it is unfair and inaccurate to attribute lower rates of persistence and graduation among undergraduate African American men exclusively to racism (Seidman, 2005), acknowledging the centrality of racial issues in African American men's experiences is important in order to understand their persistence and academic success. This understanding and acknowledgment are important because “exposure to a prejudiced campus climate clearly dominates African Americans' commitments to the institution” (Cabrera, Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella, & Hagedorn, 1999, p. 152).

For undergraduate African American men at HWIs, racism frequently manifests itself in the actions of other students on campus and other individuals within the community—often despite the efforts of concerned administrators, faculty members, and staff members. Harper and Hurtado (2007) have reported that African American students often experience racism in the form of discriminatory claims and prejudicial actions; that is, members of the majority (White) community actively or passively perform discriminatory prejudicial acts because they are from or have lived in segregated, homogenous, nondiverse communities or maintained connection to networks with these characteristics (p. 12). This lack of exposure to diversity among many students at HWIs frequently has rendered the college environment itself stressful because “for far too many Black men, HWIs represent racial climates that are replete with gendered racism; blocked opportunities; and mundane, extreme environmental stress (MEES)” (Smith, Hung, & Franklin, 2011, p. 63). The racism experienced by undergraduate African American men often is manifested and expressed in the form of macro- and microaggressions. According to Davis (1989), microaggressions are small, subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and visual) directed at students, often automatically or unconsciously, and are considered “stunning, automatic acts of disregard that stem from unconscious attitudes of White superiority and constitute a verification of black inferiority” (p. 1576; as cited in D. Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000, p. 60). On the other hand, macroaggressions are more overt expressions and acts that are subject to a formal reporting system and proscribed punishments. HWIs attempting to assist undergraduate African American men have been challenged to overcome “racial climate, campus climate, culture, and lack of diverse faculty and staff” (Hunn, 2014, pp. 304–305). In response, undergraduate African American men who perceive themselves to have experienced racism should be considered credible and be represented as such not only within the institution but also within the research literature.

Unfortunately, the stereotypes of undergraduate African American men prevalent on campus environments also have been confirmed by research during the last quarter century. This research consistently has described HWIs as alienating, isolating, unsupportive, and largely unconcerned with the plight and struggles of undergraduate African American men (Allen, 1992; Feagin, Vera, & Imani, 1996; Just, 1999; Nagasawa & Wong, 1999; Smedley, Myers, & Harrell, 1993; Woldoff, Wiggins, & Washington, 2011). Strayhorn (2014) suggested that deficit thinking within the body of research on undergraduate African American men is reflected in the answers to three questions: (a) Does the HWI provide an environment that affirms or marginalizes African American men? (b) Does the campus inspire or inhibit social interactions? and (c) Are there attempts to identify the combination of cognitive and behavioral psychological traits that determine college success? (p. 1).

Lost in this damage/deficit discourse is the idea that identifying the subtle forms of racist microaggressions as discriminatory is difficult for contemporary African American students because they may lack the experience necessary to recognize that these less overt acts are racism. While research has shown that young children are able to discern racism and stereotypical treatment (Clark & Clark, 1950; Major, Quinton, & McCoy, 2002), “some students remain unconscious of racial stereotypes and their hazardous effects” (Harper, 2012a, p. 650). However, when these students do recognize and are challenged to respond to racism, they sometimes have felt pressure to engage in behaviors that serve to reinforce the negative perceptions of them—also referred to as “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995, p. 797). In response to this stereotype threat, many undergraduate African American men have developed the ability to engage in a practice that McGee and Martin (2011) have described as stereotype management—that is, “a tactical response to the ongoing presence of stereotype threat” (p. 1364), in which they work to prove the stereotypes wrong. This response is an attack on their credibility as students, which can be draining: “African-American students spend an enormous amount of time trying to establish their credibility at PWIs” (Love, 2008, p. 44). These strategies of (a) recognizing racism and (b) responding to stereotype threat are important tools that help African American men successfully adjust to institutions of higher education.

Another success strategy used by African American men is to identify a person within the institution they are attending who is able to provide support (e.g., a student, faculty member, advisor). Strayhorn's (2008) research has suggested that maintaining close contact with a strong support person is positively related with satisfaction in college for undergraduate African American men, despite differences in age, marital status, year in college, and academic performance. Likewise, increasing their accessibility to faculty members for advising and interactions has positively influenced African American students more so than it has White students (Xu & Webber, 2016, p. 20). Research also has suggested that African American students have sought out involvement with African American organizations because they could make connections and foster relationships with African American faculty members outside of class (Guiffrida, 2003, p. 307), and Harper's (2012a) research on high-achieving undergraduate African American men revealed that participating and assuming leadership roles in affinity organizations provided them a “level of race consciousness and confidence in their communication abilities that enabled them to respond productively to stereotypes” (p. 668). These affinity organizations often have served as safe “enclaves,” where students' ethnicity was not considered to be a negative issue (Murguia, Edward, Padilla, Raymond, & Pavel, Michael, 1991, p. 436; as cited in Guiffrida, 2003, p. 305). This current study explores how successful undergraduate African American men (a) made meaning of personal networks and affinity organizations to navigate perceived racism and (b) employed specific strategies as a means of persisting through graduation.

Methodology

This study investigated the experiences and success strategies of African American men at one HWI, paying particular attention to the positive aspects of their success strategies. In addition to the research literature's appeal for additional exploration into the success strategies of undergraduate African American men (Harper, 2012a), this study was prompted, in part, by a discussion one of the researchers engaged in with an undergraduate African American male student following a class during the spring semester of 2014. During this discussion, where the student had expressed a level of comfort with me because we were both African American, he mentioned that he would be graduating soon but was unsure what he would do following graduation. This researcher became curious about why such a conscientious student would experience such feelings of uncertainty immediately prior to graduation. Was his experience typical of undergraduate African American men? Was it typical of all students? As one of the 30% of African American men graduating from this institution, what made his experience different than the 70% who were not graduating? Based on these initial thoughts and a subsequent thorough review of the research literature, I developed the following two research questions:

Research Question 1: What are the perceptions of undergraduate African American men regarding campus racism?

Research Question 2: What strategies do undergraduate African American men employ that enable them to respond to campus racism and persist through graduation?

Critical Race Theory as a Method of Inquiry

This research study employed a qualitative research design in order to meaningfully draw upon participants' subjective experiences and develop interpretations of those experiences. More specifically, principal tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT; Bell, 1992; Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, & Thomas, 1995; Delgado, 1989; Tate, 1997) were employed to explore how undergraduate African American men made meaning of and used various academic support structures to persist in an HWI of higher education. The utility of these tenets can be found in the broader and comprehensive CRT framework, which has been used to interpret (a) race as a social construct, (b) the influence of racialized narratives, and (c) the types of projects and programs that have emerged to address diversity throughout institutions of higher education.

This study draws upon the interpretive scope of CRT to problematize ways in which race has historically influenced persons of color and the linkages to the racialization of people's lives across vast, intersecting contexts of modern society. According to Omi and Winant (2015), racialization is the structural process of ascribing “racial meaning to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group” (p. 111). More specifically, educational researchers have used tenets of CRT to critique and inform pedagogical inquiries, curriculum design and implementation, academic outcomes, and factors contributing to student learning (Alemán & Gaytán, 2017; DeCuir & Dixson, 2004; Ledesma & Calderón, 2015; Leonardo, 2013; Lynn, 2002; Matias, Montoya, & Nishi, 2016). This present study builds upon and extends this body of work to further investigate the persistence of undergraduate African American men at an HWI and the strategies they employed to adapt and augment the social, cultural, and academic skills that they initially used to gain college admission.

To examine this particular case through the lens of critical race theory, the researchers employed three tenets to guide the research, frame the study, and interpret the data. First, the researchers employed the tenet of intercentricity of race and racism (Bell, 1992). This tenet is grounded in a foundational acknowledgment that race and racism have been deeply ingrained into the operations of organizations within the United States and serve as perpetual factors that influence modern life. CRT scholars have adopted a realist view of the permanence of race formations and the racial ideologies that underpin U.S. society. This racial permanence cuts across legal and educational institutions; it infiltrates cultural practices; and, perhaps most importantly for the purpose of this study, it influences the psychological state of students matriculating within a university setting.

Second, the researchers employed the tenet of centrality of experiential knowledge. This tenet recognizes the value and importance of individuals naming their own reality (Delgado, 1995; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). Through the lens of this tenet, individual voices are qualified as legitimate narratives (or counter-narratives) that hold the power to unpack and to explain social discourse and social frames that have been used to discount, marginalize, and oppress people of color (Delgado, 1989, 1990).

Third, the researchers employed the tenet of a commitment to social justice. This particular tenet uses CRT as a social framework to eliminate not only racial oppression but also all forms of oppression that leverage power as a mechanism for disparaging and subordinating others (Matsuda, Lawrence, Delgado, & Crenshaw, 1993; D. G. Solórzano, 1997; Tate, 1997). Collectively, these tenets of CRT provided not only a theoretical lens but also an analytical lens through which to examine the ways that participants perceived racism and engaged in specific strategies that enabled them to persist through graduation. Additionally, the analytical lens of CRT was used in this study (a) to examine the intersecting linkages of race, persistence, and academic outcomes at one HWI and (b) to extend the research on success strategies and the persistence of undergraduate African American men at HWIs.

Research Setting

This study was conducted at a public land-grant university in the western United States. The university campus is located in a small-to-midsize city with a population of fewer than 200,000 and approximately 1.2% African American (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). The total resident student population of the university is approximately 25,000, with an incoming freshman cohort that consistently averages approximately 5,000 students. Less than 3% of the undergraduate student population has self-identified as African American, and less than 20% of the entire student population has self-identified as minorities. The largest minority group consists of Hispanics/Latinos (9%), followed by Asians (2.2%), Native Americans (0.5%), and Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (0.2%). The campus has instituted efforts to increase (a) the size of incoming freshman cohorts, (b) the number of programs designed to help retain first-generation students, and (c) improve overall graduation rates.

Sampling Procedures and Participants

This study applied purposeful and snowball sampling to reach potential participants. Purposive sampling has been defined as “a procedure by which researchers select a subject or subjects based on predetermined criteria about the extent to which the selected subjects could contribute to the research study” (Vaughn, Schumm, & Sinagub, 1996, pp. 58–59). In addition, snowball sampling is a process in which participants are asked to recommend other candidates who may meet the inclusion criteria and be willing to participate in the study (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998). Snowball sampling offers “an established method for identifying and contacting hidden populations” (Atkinson & Flint, 2001, p. 4). Through these sampling methods, the researchers were able to reach undergraduate African American men who may not have been accessible otherwise.

As the principle investigator, I (R.B.) enlisted an African American male graduate student to assist in recruiting participants as well as to conduct participant interviews. Together, we recruited participants at the research site first by soliciting African American staff members in person and via e-mail within the institution's admissions office, the cultural center designated for African American students, and the student housing and facilities offices. We also asked faculty members to assist in the recruiting process as well. These staff and faculty members contacted students by forwarding a recruiting e-mail to approximately 100 undergraduate African American men who met the inclusion criteria—that is, students who were within a year of graduating or had graduated with a bachelor's degree.

Eleven undergraduate African American men met the inclusion criteria and were willing to participate in the study. The 11 participants did not represent a random sample of the students eligible. Rather, they were recruited through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The 11 participants in this study were undergraduate African American men who ranged in age from 20 to 32 years old, with most (8) either 21 or 22 years of age. Almost all (10 of the 11) had attended the institution between 3.5 and 4.5 years at the time of this study. Most (8) participants had attended only one institution of higher education, while two participants had attended community colleges, and one participant had attended another university. Approximately one third (3) of the participants were scheduled to graduate in May of 2015, and one had graduated 1 year earlier. Five were scheduled to graduate at the end of the fall semester, and one was scheduled to graduate within a year.

Before I began the data collection phase of this research project, I sought to capture the participants' perceptions of their experiences in order to better understand the experiences and success strategies of undergraduate African American men at one HWI. In this movement from informal to formal research, I purposely applied the interaction, continuity, and situational components of “three-dimensional narrative inquiry” discussed by Clandinin and Connelly (2000, p. 50). Focusing on the concept of success, defined for the purposes of this study as earning an undergraduate degree, I recruited student participants who (a) were either about to graduate or had graduated with a bachelor's degree within one year (i.e., June 2014 to December 2015) and who (b) self-identified (completely or partially) as an African American man. This purposeful recruitment was chosen, in part, to counter the deficit/damaged-centered premise of other research (Harper, 2012a, 2012b; Tuck, 2009; Valencia, 1997).

Data Collection

The method used for this research included an experiential qualitative case study (Stake, 2005; Yin, 2014) designed to explore participants' self-perceptions of the linkages between racism, persistence, and graduation. The data were gathered during individual structured interviews with participants (with follow-up questions to clarify or amplify the responses), which focused on their personal experiences prior to arriving at college, their classroom experiences in college, and the interactions they encountered on campus and within the surrounding community. The purpose of these in-depth interviews was to understand the perspectives of the participants (Ely, 1991). The interview protocol consisted of 27 items that solicited information about participants' demographic characteristics, race, gender identity, and family. I developed the interview questions to explore participants' experiences in college, in class, with instructors, with staff members, with campus organizations, and with the surrounding community. Each participant was interviewed individually. Audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed by the interviewing research assistant, a copy of which was provided to participants. Participants were allowed up to two weeks to review, clarify, or revise them. We sought to credibly represent the participants' experiences through a process Lincoln and Guba (1985) referred to as referential adequacy by presenting the interview transcripts to participants and reviewing any notes by the interviewer. Several participants made minor clarifying edits.

Data Analysis

As the principal investigator, I (R.B.) reviewed the transcripts to identify emerging themes and then conducted additional subsequent reviews of the transcripts in order to identify salient aspects of the interviews. I applied thick description (Ponterotto, 2006, p. 542), which enabled me to preserve and emphasize the social context and qualitatively assess the most salient experiences and perceptions of successful African American men at the institution. The analysis of these transcripts focused on the formal and intentional representations of affinity groupings used by undergraduate African American men at this HWI. The analysis also focused on the recognized student organizations and campus-created or campus-sponsored programs and centers that participants accessed in their efforts to apply strategies that helped them adapt and augment the social, cultural, and academic skills that they used to gain college admission initially.

Findings

Summary of the Findings

All 11 participants reported that they had experienced racism, that is, a negative action directed at them because they are African American. They explicitly reported these experiences directly or inferred that these experiences had occurred without necessarily using the term racism. Based on these experiences, they reported that they felt implicitly marked as different and inherently inferior to the other students at this HWI as well as, when off campus, to the predominantly White community. Through their experiences of racism, they reported feeling alienated, isolated, and inferior. In response to this negative marking, they adapted strategies to continue (persist) and graduate by seeking support from those like them within the institution's affinity organizations, groups, and programs. The participants independently sought and found sanctuary from these negative experiences by engaging with organizations, affinity groups, and programs that were focused on either African Americans or that created positive spaces for them. Ultimately, these strategies helped them navigate the isolating racial experiences they encountered in ways that led to persistence and eventual academic success—that is, graduation.

Discovering and Navigating Institutional Programs and Affinity Groupings

All 11 participants were involved in or members of at least one African American group, organization, or program, or they had participated in one that provided safe spaces for African Americans. The two most frequently mentioned resources were formally sponsored by the institution: (a) the student center for African Americans (noted as the “Hub,” pseudonym) and the other was a program for incoming freshman students (noted as “1st Year” pseudonym). Beyond the Hub and 1st Year, the group with which participants most frequently engaged was a student organization focused on race and ethnicity (noted as “AfAmMen,” pseudonym).

The Hub

The Hub is sponsored by the student affairs office and housed in the student center, near other cultural, ethnic, and gender affinity centers. The Hub is responsible for coordinating Black History Month festivities and serves as a gathering space primarily, but not solely, for African American students. Among participants, the Hub was perceived as a safe space because it created a pretty friendly, warm environment and supportive environment. The Hub also served as an informal place to discuss the racism that they experienced both on campus and off campus. With their peers first, then with Hub staff members, participants deliberated whether a particular incident was indeed racist (or a type of racism) and, if so, how to proceed, including whether or not to initiate formal reporting procedures on campus. The Hub's staff members often were the first point of contact for students to learn about and begin the formal reporting procedures in place on campus.

1st Year

After the Hub, the second most frequently reported resource used by participants was the “1st Year” program, a program for incoming freshman undergraduates. The 1st Year program consists of a collection of residential learning communities aimed at increasing retention and graduation rates by focusing primarily on facilitating adjustment to the college experience. While race and ethnicity are not the sole or primary factors considered for admission into 1st Year, they are two of the main components, along with income, gender, and entrance scores on standardized tests (e.g., ACT). The admission criteria for 1st Year were designed to target incoming students who historically have been the least likely to persist or graduate after their sixth year. Incoming students are permitted to apply to this program after they have been admitted to the institution. Participants in the 1st Year program are grouped and housed by academic interest and enrolled in one campus class together (among other courses in which they are individually enrolled as part of their academic schedules). Students in the 1st Year program are formally supported through various programs in their residence halls and on campus. These programs are designed to improve grades by helping students acculturate to the college environment and acquire a variety of skills, such as (a) how to make appropriate course selections, (b) how to study more effectively, and (c) how and when to engage the larger campus community (e.g., how to engage with professors, join campus organizations, run for student government offices). In their sophomore year, several of the students in this study who had been enrolled in the 1st Year program continued on in the program as mentors for new students.

AfAmMen

As a student-led group formally supported by the campus administration, AfAmMen's mission is to increase cultural inclusivity by (a) helping to create and support positive change and (b) building community among its members and members of the larger campus. AfAmMen has sponsored events featuring African American music as well as sports tournaments on campus. Participants in this study first became members of AfAmMen, and then—because they found value, belonging, and support—they subsequently became officers and leaders within this organization. The participants noted that the AfAmMen group provided them with opportunities to grow (e.g., network with other students, student organizations, faculty members, staff members, and entities outside of the campus) and engage with other campus groups and organizations that were not based on race or restricted to one gender.

While these three programs and organizations (i.e., the Hub, 1st Year, and AfAmMen) coexist on campus, there is no formal or intentional network in place among them that would necessarily lead students from one to another. Rather, the fact that most participants reported involvement in all three programs/organizations emphasizes the importance of their engagement with the campus community, but perhaps more importantly, it emphasizes the role that these organizations play in providing both opportunities and affinity/safe spaces (enclaves) in ways that lead to academic success for undergraduate African American men.

Two Cases: Dejen and Adisa

The experiences of two participants—Dejen and Adisa (pseudonyms)—demonstrate how they encountered, perceived, and responded to racism. More importantly, the experiences of these two participants, in particular, demonstrate how their engagement with campus programs and organizations, such as the Hub, the 1st Year program, and AfAmMen, allowed them to more fully engage with the racial issues they encountered and overcome them in positive and productive ways.

Dejen: “A Bumpy Road”

Dejen was a 21-year-old undergraduate African American man in his fourth year at the institution who planned on graduating the following fall. He described what he perceived as an incident of racism:

I remember a time they thought I was stealing my own bike … ‘cause it was late at night. I was unlocking my bike, and the [campus] police pulls me over and was like, “Is this your bike?” and they wouldn't believe me, and we had to go to the office ‘cause I didn't register it.

Bicycle registration, with a $10 fee, was a campus requirement, but Dejen considered this stop and escort to the office as detention and an incident of racial profiling because he saw it as selective enforcement. Dejen was stopped and detained, and his perception was that he had been implicitly accused of stealing his own bike solely because he was an African American. He summarized this incident in this manner: “That['s] some of the perks that I say [it's a] bumpy road.” In sarcastic fashion, Dejen attempted to make a negative situation appear positive, saying that the “perk” of being an undergraduate African American man is to be stereotyped, detained, and racially profiled.

Discussing his overall experience on campus, Dejen noted that he came “from a predominately Black school … [so] growing up and coming into a white school [was] a culture shock, ‘cause I never been around whites or Caucasians before.” He summarized his perception of being singled out in class this way:

People might misjudge, thinking you represent the whole community in classes. Like they might ask a question of what a Black person thinks, and you might be the only Black person in class, and everybody looks at you for the answers or for you to represent the community and their voices in that kind of question.

For Dejen, the size of the classes dictated the nature of the relationships he developed with others. It was difficult for him to connect in larger lecture classes to other students and the professor. However, being the only African American student in smaller classes offered him recognition that was sometimes helpful:

If it's a smaller class, I’m able to connect more with my instructor ‘cause I’m able to talk to him, and he's able to recognize me coming in as a student … ‘cause you're always that Black person in that class, and professors usually recognize you if you're consistently coming to class.

Regarding his interactions with instructors, Dejen said that “if I needed extra help, I would go in and ask them for it.” He portrayed his experience with professors in the social work department and ethnic studies department as inherently different than his interactions with instructors from other departments. For Dejen, these interactions were “positive for the most part … to a certain degree, at least [these instructors] try to use inclusive language and try to be mindful of different forms of oppression.”

When discussing the community surrounding the college, Dejen described his perception of the role of race and racism:

Some people might always have that negative stereotype and connotation. Me being an African American male, sometimes I could get stereotyped for things or misjudged … or just walking down the street sometimes at night, some people could be afraid of me.

Despite this perception, Dejen ultimately perceived his experience in this community as positive: “The community overall has been friendly to me.” However, his overall assessment of the community as friendly belied the precautions he described taking when engaging with the community: “If I go out, I'm usually with people I know; sometimes things can get out of control. I'm usually the one trying to help people out.”

Dejen continued to describe his perception of the surrounding White community,

[they believed the] negative stereotypes … portrayed by the media that they use on a daily basis, such as my neighborhood. I'm probably the only Black person in my neighborhood—me and my roommates—and sometimes they [neighbors] have this negative connotation … again, going back to that “we're always loud” or something like that, [and] they will call the cops.

Rather than attribute the neighbors' phone call for help to law enforcement as a racist action, a reasonable conclusion based on the neighbors' “negative connotation” of himself being “the only Black person,” Dejen explained this as a form of benign ignorance: “It's just that they don't understand the culture or the difference among cultures … among us and the way I grew up. It's usually that negative connotation that brings that friendliness down in this community.” Despite these negative experiences, Dejen provided justifications for the negative actions toward him as an African American man. The experience, and the need for Dejen to provide an explanation, suggests that the difference affected his perceptions and his actions: Dejen had to situate how he was viewed (i.e., negatively as an African American man) and how he perceived himself (i.e., positively as a person).

While the predominant perception of his interactions with instructional staff was that assistance was not easily forthcoming, Dejen reported that he was able to locate and access the help and support he needed from the Hub's staff: “I can go talk to them about struggles I'm having in classes or if I need help with anything, and they're there for me.” He also described receiving support from the 1st Year program and the campus leadership program. For Dejen, the Hub and 1st Year program staff members provided assistance he felt was unavailable through other organizations on campus. In 1st Year and through the campus leadership program, Dejen engaged the “faculty members around campus that I go to for help.” He explained that these are the “people that I know who have been there from the beginning.”

In addition to these faculty interactions, Dejen was involved with three student groups. The first group was AfAmMen, where Dejen rose to a leadership position (he was elected president). Another group focused on its members' continent of origin. The third student group focused on a shared common foreign language. Dejen said these groups were “resourceful for me and also helped me grow as a leader and as a person. I came in as a member in some of these organizations, and now my senior year, I've taken leadership roles.”

Adisa: “It's Normal for Me”

A first-generation undergraduate African American man, Adisa was 21 years old and completing his fourth year at the institution. He planned on graduating at the end of the following year. He described his perception of the racism he experienced on campus first by noting that it wasn't a problem. In response to the interview question, “How has your experience been off campus as an African American?” (he described himself as an African American earlier in the interview), Adisa said, “They [his experiences] haven't been bad; they've been good.” Then he immediately contradicted this assessment with a more nuanced recollection:

It's slight, but you can notice the slight ways people talk to you, address you … the way people look at you. You start noticing the little things people do … the way you tend to ignore them. You know they're there, and you know what they mean.

In this more introspective answer, Adisa described his understanding of being treated differently, and he perceived that this different treatment was because he was different as an African American; in other words, he was an outsider. In consideration of the context of his observation, it is worth quoting him at length:

I guess it's normal for me right now … not the normal that people are used to, but like, it's the same, like, most places you go, especially off campus. On campus, I'm usually around the [Hub] and everything else like that, so I'm used to seeing most people who look like me. Off campus, usually I'm the only one. Wherever I go, like my workplace, I think I was the first Black person ever there … like, employee there. I'm used to it. I don't really get a lot of problems off campus … well, racially-wise, but there are times … and I can't help people the way they are. It's just something we're used to at this point, growing up. I'd say the majority of the town is pretty nice.

However, while Adisa reported that to some extent he is used to being virtually the only African American in predominantly White environments, he also described engaging with individuals in the off-campus community through his job:

Off campus, I don't know … I notice the way people look at me. I work as a cashier in a liquor store. It's a high-end liquor store, so it's, like, middle class … white people coming in to buy expensive wine and not really used to it [seeing an African American clerk]. I can tell by the way some people talk to me, the way some people avoid my line. You can see it [the avoidant reactions of others] but, I mean, we've lived with this since I was a kid, so it's nothing new.

Adisa's “normal” was to adapt to feeling alienated; he became “used to” being marked as different and not normal in terms of the campus's surrounding community. When he was able to choose the individuals with whom he wanted to gather and socialize, he surrounded himself with others like himself—that is, individuals who shared his African American identity.

Adisa described one way he persisted through to graduation:

Getting involved really helped. In my beginning years [at college], I wasn't really as involved as I am now, and just … again, getting into different groups or programs was a bit hard at first because I didn't really think I fit into most places.

He noted that the support community he had created was essential to his persistence:

I remember there was a time when I was completely down … everything was going the wrong way … I had nothing to look for. I thought about seriously just having to leave because college just wasn't for me. If it wasn't for the support I got from friends, family, people I could just talk to, I probably wouldn't be here right now.

Desiring, seeking, and ultimately obtaining help from individuals who shared his ethnicity was essential for Adisa. He reported that there were not enough African American faculty members or staff members to provide mentorship to all of the students like him looking for support. However, at the same time, he did note that “you got Caucasian teachers that want to help too.”

When considering his decision to participate voluntarily in groups beyond those that were not focused on African American identity, Adisa said,

If you want to take race into [it], it's really kind of hard for us to go into other groups because you'd probably be the only one in some of the groups you go to. But since most of the groups I'm involved in were a majority of color students, I generally didn't have a hard time.

The isolation he experienced in his classes extended to his perception of other spaces on campus—that is, gatherings where he would be the only African American. In other words, Adisa reported that he needed a support community:

My freshman year when I began, I tried to do the whole independent thing—you know, try to do everything yourself—and that was terrible. It took me to, like, my third year to realize that without my family, I probably would have broken down really terribly, so family's been the greatest thing I have.

Based on his experience on campus, Adisa recommended that African American students who attend this institution in the future should engage with the individuals, organizations, and programs on campus: “I’d advise to get people involved, ‘cause once you start realizing that you're not really alone in this, it starts becoming a little less of a burden to you.” His statement about “not really [being] alone” reflected a difference between his perception of his experience and his actual lived experience. That is, Adisa reported that he did not feel alone when he spent time primarily within affinity student groups; however, he was able to recognize and utilize assistance from Whites on campus, even though when he was with them, he felt alone as the only African American among them.

These findings illustrate how the African American men in this study perceived themselves as experiencing racism. They further illustrate the alienation and isolation derived from being stereotyped through comparative racialization, the process of being marked as less than the norm, and the strategies they used in adjusting to being the Other. Through support from groups and organizations focused on providing safe, affirming spaces for their African American identity, they engaged with the larger campus and demonstrated how African American men can persist and succeed at HWIs.

Discussion

This study explored characteristics of successful undergraduate African American men. “Success” was defined as employing strategies that led to persistence through to graduation. Although these students ultimately achieved success, one important challenge they all faced was feeling that they were marked as different and isolated as the only (or one of the very few) African Americans in their classes, on the campus, or in the surrounding community.

At its core, racism is the differential treatment of a group of people based on an attribute or characteristic over which they have no control—that is, race. After encountering their experiences of racism on campus, Dejen and Adisa became racialized students, involuntarily differentiated from and not considered to be equivalent to the majority of the students on campus or in the surrounding community. In short, these African American students were acculturated into being racialized, which was a learning process. The racism they encountered as African Americans at this HWI was unsettling and even shocking to them. It separated and isolated them from the campus community to the extent that every participant in this study mentioned it during their interviews. These incidents of racist macro- and microaggressions were perpetrated by their fellow students and other members of the campus community.

Part of the marking and isolating effect of being the only African American in class at an HWI is the inability to be simply a student—that is, to blend in as an equal member of the larger campus population. Instead, participants were constantly reminded of their race as African Americans and of their difference from the majority. Therefore, part of their adjustment to an HWI required them to devote energy and resources to understanding and responding to involuntarily being positioned as a racialized subject.

Despite these negative experiences, the successful men who participated in this study continued to engage in their classes, on the campus, and with their community, and they persisted through to graduation by relying on resources and institutional programs, such as the 1st Year program; the Hub; and African American affinity organizations, such as AfAmMen. The undergraduate African American men in this study sought assistance in their struggle to cope with the isolation of the racism they encountered; they did not internalize racist incidents as signs of their personal failure or consider them to be the result of some action they may have taken that might warrant the negative reaction they encountered in response to their presence.

Previous studies have demonstrated that isolation has a negative effect on academic persistence and success. For example, in Tinto's (2012) seminal work, he asserted that students who experience “individual isolation” often have been unable to establish “a significant personal tie with someone on campus, faculty or student,” partially due to “the absence of sufficient contact between the individual and other members of the social and academic communities of the college” (p. 56). The results of this study contradict Tinto's assertion in that the absence of contact and engagement was not a debilitating problem for the undergraduate African American men in this study. Instead, these students sought out or created academic and social counter-spaces because of their negative experiences with the social and academic communities at the HWI. Within these counter-spaces of congregation, where their marked race was affirmed and positively reinforced, they found refuge in what D. Solórzano et al. (2000) described as “sites where deficit notions of people of color can be challenged and where a positive collegiate racial climate can be established and maintained” (p. 70).

Several themes and issues have been consistent in the history of African American students at HWIs: (a) the experience of racism and racist incidents; (b) feelings of isolation, also referred to as “onlyness”—that is, “the psychoemotional burden of having to strategically navigate a racially politicized space occupied by few peers, role models, and guardians from one's same racial or ethnic group” (Harper, 2012a, p. 670); (c) the need for more faculty members and staff members who have shared African American lived experiences; and (d) the resilience required in order for these students to persist and succeed by graduating with their undergraduate degree.

The findings in this study are troublingly consistent with prior research about the history of African American students at HWIs for more than a century. For example, African American students regularly and consistently experience racism and isolation throughout their education, and there is a need for more than academic programming to retain them (Woldoff et al., 2011). At the same time that these students have identified the need for a more diverse student body, faculty members, and staff members, they also have demonstrated that they possess the resilience and persistence to succeed and the desire to graduate. This study joins a growing body of research that demonstrates how undergraduate African American men achieve academic success and graduate from HWIs. Every level of higher education (e.g., administration, student services, faculty development, campus housing) should recognize and consider that for undergraduate African American men, racism is a part of the HWI experience. African American students encounter racism because of the persistent stereotyping that leads to acts of discrimination.

Concluding Thoughts

The reality of undergraduate African American men's lower success rates at HWIs, and in college in general, can be attributed as much to the institution as it can to the student. While it is not surprising that students who come from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds persist and graduate at rates lower than White students (Harvey & Anderson, 2005), even when accounting for academic performance levels (Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pedersen, & Allen, 1998), this result does not have to be the norm. The persistence of discrimination, stereotyping, and racism is not the fault of the actions of African American students unless their very presence is in fact a violation of the privileged space of the academy. For those who perform stereotypical, discriminatory, and racist acts toward African American students, higher education institutions should consider increasing the penalties up to the point where careers and livelihoods are jeopardized. A portion of the programs supporting undergraduate African American men should focus on how to discern microaggressions as well as the means to effectively report and enforce acts of discrimination and racism.

Further, there is no better means for dispelling the stereotypical myths surrounding undergraduate African American men in the college environment than having a heterogeneous critical mass in a variety of majors, classes, organizations, and groups so as to be more normative than unusual. For example, colleges and universities can recruit students with the purpose of increasing the absolute number of African American male enrollments. They can employ, for example, the Context, Actions, and Outcomes model of institutional responsibility in which the duty of recruitment is shared by all parties in ways that are appropriate, relevant, and respectful (Wood & Palmer, 2015, pp. 51–68, 81–93). Wood and Palmer (2015) described Florida State University's Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement program that increased the number of Black students graduating, to a rate that was “at an historic high” and “almost the same rate as” students who were not in the program (p. 83). Along with increasing the absolute number of African American male enrollments, colleges and universities should consider creating programs targeting African American men, athletes, high and low achievers, LGBTQ students, and others (Amechi et al., 2015).

Finally, recognizing and supporting African American faculty and staff members who operate and manage these programs could be included as one component of tenure packages. This work would be in addition to their informal mentoring and support of African American male students through their annual assessments, tenure reviews, and promotion evaluations (Grier-Reed, Madyun, & Buckley, 2008; June, 2015; Strayhorn, 2008; Turner, González, & Wood, 2008). The research literature, along with my own experience as an African American man and tenure track faculty member at an HWI, has lacked successful programs to help tenure such faculty (Warde, 2009). In fact, research has demonstrated that African American faculty members perform similar success strategies, finding peers and affinity groupings, as the undergraduates in this study (Pittman, 2012).

From the perspective that undergraduate African American men are inherently capable in all means and manners required by institutions of higher education, my approach to this study necessarily entailed looking for the positive aspects of their experience. This approach revealed that the difference in persistence and graduation rates among undergraduate African American men, in comparison to other groups, is that the discrimination and racism directed toward them requires effective support, such as those programs and organizations used by the participants in this study or staff members within these programs who are aware of these factors. Institutions should work to provide a roadmap among programs and organizations to make it possible for undergraduate African American men to find the resources that apply to all students, in general, the resources that help them deal with racism, and the resources that help them with the specific issues of acculturation and persistence. In all aspects of the American academy, African American men have proven that they are capable of success.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biographies

Ray Black is an assistant professor at Colorado State University in the Ethnic Studies Department specializing in African American studies. His research focuses on the matriculation, persistence, and success of African American and underrepresented undergraduate students at historically white institutions.

Albert Y. Bimper Jr. is an associate professor at Colorado State University in the Ethnic Studies Department specializing in the area of race and intercollegiate athletics. His research focuses on the intersection of race and sport, which spans the study issues germane to Black male student athletes, racism in sport, and the discovery of culturally sustaining learning environments for collegiate student athletes. Bimper also serves as Colorado State's senior associate athletic director for Diversity and Inclusion.

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