Black Students’ College Preferences: The Role of the White Racial Frame in Perpetuating Integration

Much research has found support for the perpetuation hypothesis, which predicts that the racial contexts that youth grow up in direct them into analogous situations and institutions in their futures. However, there is a lack of qualitative research that examines how Black students make meaning of their high school racial context when making their college application decisions. Drawing upon interviews and observational data with 48 Black students at two racially diverse high schools, I examine Black students’ college preferences to understand the mechanisms behind integration perpetuation. My data show that Black students vary in how they make meaning of their high school contexts. In contrast to the predictions of the perpetuation hypothesis, some embrace the idea of attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); however, others want to attend diverse colleges like their high schools. I highlight how the white racial frame, embedded within the context of racially diverse high schools, may influence college racial composition preference.