Racial Identity, Racial Discrimination, and Academic Engagement: The Protective Role of Social Justice College-Access Program Involvement With African American Students

• In Event: Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education: Precollegiate

Abstract

Extending research on the significant domains that serve as protective factors against racial discrimination experiences and responses, this study examined the role of a social justice college access program. Similar to prevailing narratives by which Black students experience and respond to larger structures of oppression, we theorize that social justice college access involvement can mitigates Black students’ context-specific repertoires and responses to racial discrimination experiences. Using a multi-method approach consisting of 440 Black student participants of a social justice college access program, preliminary findings suggest frequent reported racial discrimination experiences and unique responses connected to larger structural conditions and the political economy. Implications for future policy, practice, and research on social justice college access involvement are discussed.

Authors

• Terry Allen, University of California - Los Angeles

• Jonli Tunstall, University of California - Los Angeles

• Ashley Williams, University of California - Los Angeles