From “Culturally Deprived” to “At Risk”: The Politics of Popular Expression and Educational Inequality in the United States, 1960-1985

2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia L. M. Martinez ◽  
John L. Rury
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
At Risk ◽  
African American ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Remedial Education ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North

This article examines the terms “culturally deprived” and “disadvantaged” in light of their popular use in the sixties and following decades, particularly in the ethnic and mainstream press. These expressions represented an effort to explain differences in educational attainment and academic achievement along lines of social class, race, and ethnicity from an environmental, liberal viewpoint. We consider the use of such terms from the standpoint of both the African American and Mexican American communities at the time, representing perspectives from the North, South, and West Coast. In doing this, we document a national effort by educators and the concerned public to comprehend and address long-standing patterns of social and educational inequity. State and federal programs that used “compensatory” and “remedial” education to address the problems of “culturally deprived” and “disadvantaged” communities are also considered, along with political tensions within and between the African American and Mexican American communities over benefits to be gained. The use of these expressions was eventually marked by controversy as ethnic communities and academic critics labeled them a new form of prejudice, based on conceptions of cultural and academic inadequacy. While the terms fell out of favor, a new generation was left with the problem of explaining persistent differences in educational outcomes and academic achievement that marked children's lives. The expression “at risk” was brought into the mainstream, and the academic terms “social capital” and “cultural capital” were introduced and gained currency. While these new terms have not sparked the controversies of the past, they fail to fully characterize the systematic educational disadvantages experienced by children from poor or minority backgrounds. The article closes with a brief discussion of the recurring dilemma of how best to describe persistently unequal educational outcomes, particularly when they continue to correspond to broad patterns of social and economic inequality in contemporary society.

Using Systems Theory to Promote Academic Success for African American Males

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 1013-1042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Orrock ◽  
Mary Ann Clark
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
At Risk ◽  
African American ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
African American Males ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Successful Academic

Through an ecological systems perspective, this study explores factors that influence successful academic achievement for African American males in at-risk settings. This qualitative study examines factors that contribute to the successful academic achievement for African American males from at-risk populations. The researchers explore African American boys’ lived experiences and what contributes to their success in school. Educators and counselors are able to encourage African American male engagement in academics by understanding the interconnectedness of lived systems. This study explores the interdependency of systems in the development of self-concept for these youth. Findings suggest the value of using a systems model and approach when working with African American males in public schools to improve post-secondary outcomes. These findings have implications for promoting academic success through family, school, and community involvement for African American males.

Mexico and the Pacific

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. Slack
Keyword(s):  
Mexican American ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Porfirio Diaz ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific

Called “Mar del Sur” [South Sea] when first spotted by Balboa in 1513 and dubbed “Mar Pacifíco” [Peaceful Calm Sea] by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, the historical relationship between the Pacific Ocean and the people of Mexico is multilayered and dynamic. During the Spanish colonial era (1521–1821), the viceroyalty of New Spain (Nueva España) supervised the Asian and Polynesian colonies of the Philippines and Guam (and briefly Taiwan and the Spice island of Ternate) across the Pacific. Acapulco became a mythical emporium of exotic luxury supplied by the galleons from Manila that for 250 years tied Asia to the Iberian New World. Beyond this famous port, littoral native communities dotting the Pacific coast, from Oaxaca in the south to the forty-second parallel of Alta California in the north, gradually fell under Spanish secular and religious control. The enormous coastline measured approximately 5,400 miles, more than double the length of seaside territory facing the Gulf of Mexico. Following the War of Mexican Independence (1810–1821), the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) emerged. For the next fifty years, Mexico experienced domestic political instability exacerbated by wars against the United States (Mexican-American War, 1846–1848) and France (1862–1867). When political order was finally established under the regime of Porfirio Díaz (1876–1910), regionalism was confronted by the centrifugal power of a modernizing, technocratic state. Despite losing 840 miles of California coastline, and a lucrative trade route with Manila, in the Mexican-American War, Mexico’s Pacific littoral in the south grew to incorporate the formerly Guatemalan territory of Chiapas, and a new shipping network evolved. Traditional research on pueblos, cities, or states along the Pacific coast emphasizes purely local or regional contexts within the colonial or independent Mexican state; or it is grouped thematically into studies about the galleon trade or California mission settlements. Recent scholarship is encouraging a more balanced approach, accentuating the many threads that wove a rich tapestry of Mexico’s unique relationship with the “Pacific World” (as opposed to the more popular “Atlantic World”); not only in a nationalist framework, but with inter-American and trans-Pacific or global dimensions.

African American Racial Identity and Learning

Education ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank C. Worrell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
European American ◽  
Black Racial Identity ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Racial identity is one of the most frequently studied cultural identities in the United States, and it is examined most frequently in relation to African Americans. Racial identity is also examined in European American samples to a lesser extent, and there is a growing literature on the racial identity of biracial and multiracial individuals. Racial identity and ethnic identity are similar constructs, and there are some researchers who do not distinguish between the constructs, using the terms and the measurement instruments interchangeably. However, as the instruments are developed in relation to theoretical models that speak to one or the other construct specifically (i.e., ethnic or racial identity), this perspective is not adopted in this article. Thus this article focuses solely on racial identity as a construct and does not include literature on ethnic identity or studies that used instruments developed to measure ethnic identity. The relationship between racial identity and learning, and more specifically academic achievement, is typically studied in the context of the achievement gap among racial and ethnic groups in the United States, and is most closely associated with the achievement gap between African American and European American students. Thus, studies of the relationship of racial identity to learning typically involve black racial identity but not white racial identity. In most of the scholarship in this area, researchers examine the relationship of black racial identity attitudes to academic achievement or other academic constructs (e.g., motivation). Additionally, two of the preeminent theories of underachievement in African Americans and other underachieving groups—that is, cultural ecological theory and stereotype threat—implicate racial identity as a contributing factor. Although there is a strong belief that racial identity is related to learning, there is still considerable debate about the contexts in which this relationship is manifested and the strength and explanatory power of the relationship, and the evidence in favor of a direct relationship between the racial identity and learning is mixed at best.

Implications of the United States Census 2000 in Analyzing and Reporting New Findings of Disparities in Health

2005 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freddy A. Paniagua
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Census ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Census 2000

This paper argues that, when analyzing and reporting new findings of disparities in health, two areas from the recent U.S. Census of 2000 should be considered for those findings to be meaningful. The first is to avoid analyzing and reporting findings of disparity with an emphasis on the term “Hispanic” and instead to specify the particular Hispanic group from which such findings were collected, such as Mexican-American versus Cuban communities. The second point is that such findings should also take into consideration combination of two or more races. For example, reporting would allow for multiple groupings for respondents who consider themselves African American and White, or African American, Asian, and White.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Nasopharyngeal Cancer Survival in the United States: A SEER Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishal J. Patel ◽  
Nai-Wei Chen ◽  
Vicente A. Resto
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Cancer Survival ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Nasopharyngeal Cancer ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Disease Specific Survival ◽  
Caucasian Patients ◽  
Disease Specific

Objective To determine whether patient race and ethnicity affect nasopharyngeal cancer survival. Study Design Retrospective database analysis. Setting National Cancer Institute’s SEER database (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results), 1988-2010. Subjects and Methods Nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases were extracted according to site codes and histology recode–broad groupings. The cohort of 5427 patients was used to calculate disease-specific survival in regard to race and ethnicity. Extracted data were further analyzed through direct comparisons and multivariable Cox regression models controlling for patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics. Results Unadjusted survival curves for all nasopharyngeal carcinomas considered together showed a statistically significant better disease-specific survival for the African American race ( P = .02) and Asian ethnicity ( P = .01) relative to Caucasian patients. The survival advantage for both these groups was eliminated after controlling for the age and sex of the patients. Conclusion African American and Asian patients with nasopharyngeal cancer have better disease-specific survival as compared with Caucasian patients, while Hispanic ethnicity has no effect relative to Caucasians. This disparity is accounted for by diagnosis at an older age in Caucasian patients but remains poorly explained in regard to Hispanic patients.

The Evolution of Uneven Development in Dallas, TX

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Katie Krupala
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Sharp Decrease ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Poor Whites ◽  
The North ◽  
The City

Dallas has a long history of uneven development. It is the product of excess capital, white planning, and a desire to shape the land into something it is not. Communities in Dallas broke sharply along racial and class lines, and as a result black and white Dallas developed separately. Forces of structural and physical violence largely determined where African American neighborhoods were, and are, located in Dallas. African American, Mexican American, and other low-income communities suffered not only from low housing availability and high rent prices, but also bombings, arson, and other physical threats. When alliances formed between poor whites and their neighbors of color, the construction of a highway or railroad was apt to split a neighborhood and fracture the community. The effects of segregation and discrimination have followed the African American communities in Dallas since their inception. Space for African Americans, who made up almost twenty percent of the population, within the Dallas city limits continued to shrink. In 1940, African American neighborhoods were squeezed into 3.5 square miles within the City and in small communities along the perimeter. Meanwhile, the wealthy sequestered themselves into enclaves within the city, avoiding both minorities and municipal taxes while benefitting from city services. In this paper I explore how this historical discrimination and segregation shaped geographic inequality across Dallas today. Much of the wealth in Dallas is clustered in the north around the Park Cities enclave as illustrated by viewing the property tax values over the city. Low-income, majority African American neighborhoods like Joppa, located in southern Dallas, illustrate the impacts that the flows of capital have on livelihoods. South Dallas experienced a sharp decrease in population as residents moved to the suburbs in the 1960s and has since been underdeveloped. Joppa, a small, historically neglected, neighborhood has remained isolated until recently. Developers are interested in Joppa for its cheap, empty lots, and valuable proximity to booming downtown Dallas and the Trinity River Corridor. Gentrification is a concern for the neighborhood; residents have a desire to revitalize their neighborhood on their own terms, not developers’. This research will help to visualize and amplify the continued material effects of a history Dallas is trying to make invisible.

Pathways to the Presidency: Biographical Sketches of Women of Color Firsts

2007 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAROLINE SOTELLO VIERNES TURNER
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Native American ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
University Presidents ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biographical Sketches

According to recent data, only 3 percent of all college and university presidents are women of color. While the numbers remain disturbingly low, some of these women of color are making history as the "first" of their gender, race, and ethnicity to become president of a public, baccalaureate degree–granting college or university. In this article, Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner presents biographical sketches of three of these women. They are acknowledged to be the first Mexican American, Native American, and Asian Pacific/Asian American women who are presidents of such colleges in the United States. Women from these respective racial and ethnic groups have become university presidents only recently. Using in-depth interviews and cross-case comparisons, the author examines the paths these women presidents have taken and how their narratives contribute important information about women of color in higher education administration. She asserts that from their stories we can learn about the "pathway to the presidency" these women have helped to forge, about the ways universities can help support the leadership development of women of color, and about how to foster leadership in other women of color who aspire to be college presidents. Turner concludes that these women of color "firsts" continue to make important contributions to the field of higher education, and to pave the way for other women.

scholarly journals Racial Awareness in Phillis Wheatley’s Selected Poems

2015 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 74-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manimangai Mani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
North American ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Awareness ◽  
Imaginary World ◽  
Phillis Wheatley ◽  
The North

Slavery in America began when Africans were brought in as slaves to the North American Colony of Jamestown Virginia around 1619. Slavery in America lasted for almost four hundred years though the trade was legally abolished by Britain in March 1807 (Walvin 163). Although the trade ended, slavery itself continued to survive. Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) is considered the first prominent Black writer in the United States to publish a book of imaginative writing. She is also the first to start the African-American literary tradition, as well as the African-American women literary tradition. Her work, which was derivative, was published in the collection, Poems on Various Subjects (1773) and in various magazines. Her choice of words was mostly biblical where it helped to camouflage her view on slavery. This paper intends to show that all of Wheatley’s poems actually carried the theme of freedom. She has intelligently used this theme to articulate her desires in a subtle manner. On the surface, the poems are all preaching the greatness of Christianity to the readers and urging them to find solace through religion. She shows her racial awareness and resistance through various themes of the poems that she wrote. This paper highlights Wheatley’s disapproval of slavery through her praise for religion, political commentaries, supporting elegies and death and finally through her escapism into an imaginary world.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document