scholarly journals Lift Every Voice: Exploring the Stressors and Coping Mechanisms of Black College Women Attending Predominantly White Institutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naysha N. Shahid ◽  
Tamara Nelson ◽  
Esteban V. Cardemil
Keyword(s):  
Black Students ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
College Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Black College ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Racial Tension

In the past 40 years, there has been a significant increase in Black students’ enrollment at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Meanwhile, research shows that Black students often experience difficulty with transitioning and adjusting to PWIs. Previous research has effectively documented the challenges facing a significant number of Black students at PWIs; however, less is known about the experiences of Black women in particular. This study examined stress from racial tension experienced among 129 Black undergraduate women at PWIs in the Northeast region of the United States, as well as the potential moderating factors of the theorized Strong Black Woman concept and the Africultural coping theory. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a significant positive association between racial tension experienced on campus and stress. Results also indicated that only Africultural coping was a significant moderator of this relationship, such that there was a weaker relationship between racial tension and stress among the participants who engaged more in Africultural coping. Policy implications for improving the campus racial climate and the academic experiences of Black college women at PWIs are discussed.

Authentically Me: Examining Expectations That Are Placed Upon Black Women in College

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Winkle-Wagner ◽  
Bridget Turner Kelly ◽  
Courtney L. Luedke ◽  
Tangela Blakely Reavis
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
College Women ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Black College ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Support Structures ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Faculty And Staff

Through analyzing critical life stories with Black alumnae from predominantly White institutions, this article offers a narrative, in-depth approach to explore the ways in which alumnae managed and resisted expectations and stereotypes that were placed upon them by peers, faculty, and staff during college. Findings suggested that participants grappled with assumptions of who they should be as Black college women. As they resisted stereotypes and expectations, they crafted unique pathways toward asserting their authentic selves. The findings emphasize heterogeneity among Black women and the need for varied support structures in educational institutions.

scholarly journals Outreach librarian to black students : A de facto role

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Spencer
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Black College ◽  
Black College Students ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Additional Labor

While some predominantly white institutions can offer unique and laudable educational experiences to Black college students, they can also lack resources that provide these same students with a culturally affirming milieu. Black faculty and staff can organize their time, energy and resources to offer culturally enriching experiences for Black students. However, this additional labor is not systematically seen, cataloged or recognized as a core or essential duty. The author describes some effective forms of outreach from her personal experience and simultaneously asks whose job it is to meet the cultural needs of this population.

On Shaky Ground: Black Authenticity at Predominantly White Institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-189
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Cox
Keyword(s):  
Black Students ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Black College ◽  
Ethnic Exclusion ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Behavioral Constraints ◽  
Shaky Ground

This study investigates the ways in which social context affects processes of black authenticity, resulting in shaky ground for authentic blackness among black college students at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Because of normalized whiteness, black PWI students are negotiating authentic blackness in social contexts that limit black expression and identity through external pressure from nonblack students, in addition to experiencing intraracial pressures from black peers. These students must walk a thin line: they have to avoid being labeled as either “too black” or “inauthentically” black by nonblack students while simultaneously working to be seen as “black enough” by black peers, which highlights the precarity of black authenticity at PWIs. I use interviews and qualitative surveys of 44 black students at two PWIs and one historically black university (HBCU); the data from the HBCU are used to highlight contrasts between two school types. Results indicate that, as a result of tighter boundaries around blackness drawn by both black and nonblack peers, black PWI students experience behavioral constraints, limited options for ethnic identification, and believe that HBCU students see them as less authentically black. Conversely, HBCU students did not describe similar behavioral constraints or ethnic exclusion, and made no claims of inauthentic blackness for black PWI students. Overall, results suggest that the social contexts of PWIs significantly affect black students’ experiences with black authenticity.

scholarly journals We Want Black Students, Just Not You: How White Admissions Counselors Screen Black Prospective Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 456-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Thornhill
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
School Students ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Intraracial Discrimination

Most historically and predominantly white institutions (HPWIs) now desire some number of black students on their campuses. However, recent theoretical scholarship suggests that HPWIs’ desire for and willingness to embrace black students is predicated on their racial palatability. The theory of intraracial discrimination stipulates that white gatekeepers are increasingly inclined to screen blacks to “weed out” those they perceive as too concerned with race and racism. In this study, the author assessed whether there was evidence of intraracial discrimination within the HPWI admissions regime. The data were derived through an audit of 517 white admissions counselors, employed at the same number of institutions, who received inquiry e-mails from fictitious black high school students who presented as more or less racially salient. The findings reveal that white admissions counselors are more responsive to black students who present as deracialized and racially apolitical than they are to those who evince a commitment to antiracism and racial justice. These findings provide convincing support for the theory of intraracial discrimination within the HPWI admissions regime. The author concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of these findings.

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