"Don't Wanna Be the Black Face From the City": Narratives of Black Immigrant College Students

• In Event: Racial Identities, Campus Climate, and Institutional Culture

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of Black immigrant students in higher education as they navigate pathways, barriers, and borders along their educational journey. Integrating critical theories of intersectionality and migration as a conceptual framework, this postcritical ethnography tells the stories of three Black immigrant students who attend a four-year, historically White college in the Northeast. The participants, Marley, Lost, and Cynthia, are the first in their families to attend college in the United States after emigrating from Jamaica or South Africa. The counter-narratives of Cynthia, Marley, and Lost add to the constellation of stories that challenge the singular Black identity, raise new questions, and move the conversation forward.

Authors

• Jessica Sarah Powell, Southern Connecticut State University

• Gaelle Amazan, Syracuse University

• Nancy Barno Reynolds, Binghamton University - SUNY