African American Racial Identity as Promoting Academic Achievement and Excellence: Resisting Stereotypes and the Myth of Acting White

• In Event: Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Learning and Motivation Within Educational Contexts

Abstract

There has been recent renewed attention to Black students’ experiences at predominantly White universities (PWIs), e.g., the 2013 #BBUM (Being Black at the University of Michigan), “I too am Harvard” social media campaigns, and subsequent student protest activities across the nation. These campaigns illuminate how many students encounter challenges to their racial identities as they enter PWI contexts. Students routinely report experiences such as being ignored or treated as a token in classes, receiving messages of low academic expectations by faculty and peers, being questioned about their academic qualifications or belonging, being excluded from academic and social activities, and being racially profiled and harassed in the broader campus community due to race (e.g., Feagin, 1992; Fries-Britt & Griffin, 2007; Greer & Chwalisz, 2007; Solarzano, Ceja, & Yossa, 2000; Swim, Hyers, Cohen, Fitzgerald, & Bylsma, 2003). Researchers have linked such experiences of racial marginalization and stigma in the college context to student motivation and achievement. One potential mechanism is through the impact of college experiences on students’ identities, given the relevance of the college context for students’ personal identity development, including personal beliefs systems around social identities salient in this context. However, despite increasing recognition of the emerging adulthood period and college years as important influences on identity, relatively little research focuses on Black college students and the unique supports and challenges to identity development they may face around race.

In this study, we explored how race-related experiences on PWI campuses influenced Black students’ racial identity beliefs during the transition to college. Our sample included 329 African American freshmen (71.3% female) from three, 4-year predominantly White public universities in the Midwestern U.S. Using latent cluster analysis, we documented patterns of change and stability in students’ beliefs about the importance of their racial group membership (centrality), their personal affective beliefs, or racial pride (private regard), and their beliefs about the societal status of their racial group (public regard) at college entry (Time 1) and the end of freshman year (Time 2). Next, we conducted multinomial logit analyses to examine how racial identity change clusters could be predicted and distinguished by students’ reported race-related experiences in college. Findings indicated that change and stability in the three racial identity beliefs were related to students’ pre-college racial composition, as well as their campus racial discrimination experiences, intergroup friendships and racial climate perceptions. Finally, we conducted a series of MANOVAs to investigate whether racial identity clusters related to Time 2 academic motivation. Students with high, stable centrality and increasing centrality showed higher academic competence and persistence than did those with low, stable or decreasing centrality. Those with lower, stable and decreasing private regard had less positive academic affect than other students. Having high, stable public regard related to higher academic competence, affect, and persistence, relative to those with lower or decreasing public regard. Our findings highlight the vast diversity among Black students in their identities, identity-based experiences, and adaptive responses to these experiences, as well as implications for educational research and institutional settings.

Authors

• Tabbye Maria Chavous, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Seanna Leath, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Bridget Richardson, University of Michigan