To Whom Much Is Given: The Role of Black Families in Promoting Intergenerational Educational Responsibility

• In Event: What Should We Do? Diverse Case Studies in Intergenerational Community Building

Abstract

Scholarship focused on the Black family’s role in ensuring academic success for Black youth is growing. The authors extend current research to focus on the role that a Black parent group plays in the intergenerational support of students and families in a community where Black people are in the extreme minority. Specifically, the authors highlight the integral nature of collective responsibility, accountability, and reciprocity to one community group’s efforts to prepare, sustain, and propel Black students’ educational pathways from elementary school through higher education and beyond. Emphasis is placed on the group’s foundational premise of giving back to benefit future generations of students and families. Implications are provided for how collective action can maximize opportunities and outcomes for Black students.

Authors

• Alea R Holman, Fordham Graduate School of Education

• Raquel M. Rall, University of California - Riverside