People, Get Ready

Education proves to be a positive and an impactful benefit to those who choose to pursue it. Education is associated with professional stability, economic growth, and social capital. More than ever, there is a strong emphasis on educational achievement and the acquirement of a postsecondary credential. However, achievement gaps persist in the African-American student population. These students need to be adequately prepared to successfully complete a rigorous collegiate program. There are magnitudes of programs designed to assist underrepresented student populations prepare for their college careers. More than ever, considerations regarding postsecondary educational opportunities need to be thoroughly explored. The pursuit of higher education can be daunting, especially for first generational college students. It is imperative that students and families become cognizant of preparatory possibilities that are designed to empower and educate them about the myriad college and career choices.

The Untold Stories of Black and Brown Student Experiences in Historically White Fraternities and Sororities

This chapter will highlight the experiences of underrepresented minority students who are members of majority Greek-letter organizations at two institutions of higher learning located in the Midwest. The authors will explore the reasons why students joined majority Greek-letter organizations as opposed to those associated with their ethnicity/race. In addition, peer-to-peer perceptions, sense of mattering and belonging, and interest in upward mobility within their respective organizations will be examined.

Media Communication Perspectives of African American Males Regarding Criminal Behaviors

The representation of African Americans in the media has been a major concern in mainstream American culture and is also a component of media bias in the United States. Representation, in itself, refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of “reality” such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities, and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. Media representation of minorities is not always seen in a positive light; therefore, representation of African Americans in particular propagates somewhat controversial and misconstrued images of what African American represent. According to Potter, research on the portrayal of African Americans in prime-time television from 1955 to 1986 found that only 6% of the characters were African Americans, while 89% of the TV population was white. Among these African-American characters, 19% lacked a high school diploma, and 47% were low in economic status.

Indicators for Success for African-American Male College Students

This chapter will review the repercussion of the exodus of African-American families migrating to suburban areas and the impact it had on African-American male students in urban areas that transition from high school into the collegiate environment. The importance of what impact do dual credit programs have on college preparedness and higher wages for African-American males be a cornerstone of emphasis. There is a concern that African-American males in urban areas have been marginalized and do not have resources that allow for corridors to be built that could promote college success whereas their suburban counterparts may have direct access to specific information and platforms supporting collegiate success. This chapter will include components centered on higher education success readiness in comparison of two school districts within a large metropolitan area and reference to Evans' developmental intervention model.

Parental Involvement in Education

This chapter examines the key factors of parental involvement in relation to African-American students' academic success. Researchers identified that school failure is common among low-income African-American youth in the United States. This achievement gap requires a review of areas, such as poverty and crime, family environments, parenting styles, and academic race stereotypes, that could possibly affect African-American's academic achievement. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey revealed that opportunities exist in reducing poverty and crime in African-American communities. Additionally, factors such as school-district locations may impact African Americans' perception of education. Most low-income schools lack educational resources to support students with increased learning needs which leads to greater disparities in developmental outcomes. Using social-cognitive theory as a framework, the authors found that increased parental involvement may improve African-American students' self-efficacy for increased academic motivation.

Sustaining Our Diminishing Teachers of Color in Urban and Suburban Schools

This chapter emphasizes the importance of implementing culturally competent recruitment and retention practices, which suburban schools and systems can use to ensure that all students have a well-trained and high-quality teacher of color. Changes in teachers' expectations for student success and strategies in managing administrative and behavioral tasks are all required of all novice teachers. Methods of recruitment, strategies of organization management, and student demographics should be factors in supporting the approaches to implement culturally competent policy change, impacting the outcomes for teachers of color and the student's they serve. A positive organizational culture to include culturally responsive instructional leadership, adequate teacher salary, and critical professional development are determinants for sustaining high-quality teachers of color not only for students of color but for all learners. An emphasis on valuing the cultural identity of teachers of color in suburban schools will be emphasized as a preventative measure for the othering of teachers of color.

Where Have We Gone From There?

It is the author's position that Martin King's final keynote address at the tenth annual session of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where the theme was “Where Do We Go From Here” is a significant point of reference in the ongoing struggle of African Americans in America. Indeed, 50 years after King's sudden death, his turn toward economic and political empowerment is still the cornerstone of the Black agenda in America. Therefore, with the preceding as our contextual mooring, the author will consider that unique expression of African American culture, Black religion, and the Black church in its 21st century iteration. How has suburban life and the ongoing search for success and the “American Dream” affected Black faith traditions? What do we believe, and who is our God? What has become of the “Souls of Black Folk?”

Undisturbed Survival Mode

African Americans are moving around the country – again. This time to suburban areas. It seems they are moving to the suburban areas for the same reasons they moved to the urban areas a century ago (jobs, safety, education, and improved living conditions). This chapter focuses on four African American women teachers. Three currently teach in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. One teaches in the Washington School for Girls—an inner-city, urban school in Washington, DC. Two of the teachers are from rural areas. One teaches in a suburban school outside of Dallas with demographics much like the inner-city schools. The other two teachers grew up in urban Dallas but have taken a teaching position in an affluent Dallas suburb. The notion that African Americans are losing an identity they never had is non-commonsensical. Instead, this chapter suggests that African Americans are still in a survival mode thrusted upon them since slavery while a new developing generation of Blacks view blackness from a different set of identities.

Deconstructing Representations of African Americans in the Media

A 2014 survey distributed by Runnymede Trust indicates that 74% of respondents believe that media portrayals of minorities promote racism. The media plays a significant role in the ways that African Americans are perceived resulting in implicit bias. Data reveal that biased representations of minorities has existed since the early 1870s. The cinematic representation of African Americans in the media negates reality with portrayals of ignorance and subservience. The chapter uses technical discourse to analyze 20 historical and present advertisements with negative portrayals of African Americans in an attempt to identify strategies used by marketers to dehumanize the Black consumers and shape suburban communities.

Challenges of Isolation for African American Movement to Suburbanization

Recent conversations about African American families leaving urban neighborhoods to move to the suburbs are spreading on cable news and social media. Historically, those living conditions were in the neighborhoods with low-quality housing and high crime rates compared to suburban neighborhoods. According to Bialik, more than six million African Americans who lived in urban communities in United States have migrated to the suburbs to take advantage of improved housing and safer environment. This chapter explores the challenges of isolation for African American movement to suburbanization.