Running head: AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION 1

African-American Men In Higher Education

James Gilbert
Georgia Southern University
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Abstract
The following addresses the challenges that African American males face in successfully

completing college and the negative impact it has upon the African American family. This

writing addresses the historical link of those challenges to the historical negative attitudes and

actions towards the participation of African Americans in college. This writing also address some

possible actions that higher education administrators can take to help address the challenges that

African American men face in higher education.

A Statement Of The Problem

Although they hold high aspirations to attend college, according to 2012 U.S. Department of
Education report, African-American men comprised less than 6% of the entire U.S.
undergraduate population in 2010 (Kim & Hargrove, 2013, 300). Though they share the same or

similar historical backgrounds, there is a great disparity between the numbers of African

American males who attend college than African-American females. As noted by Kim &

Hargrove (2013), African-American females are twice as likely to obtain a college degree that

their male counterpart (p. 300).

The significance of this issue is the potentially negative social-economic impact that it could

have upon the African-American Family. This issues could have an economic impact because

more education is often associated with greater earning potential among African-American men.
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However, the effects may impactful socially with the effect of finding suitable mates for African-

American women. According to Brooks, Jones, & Burt (2013), The lack of African-American

men on college campuses forces these women to either not date or date someone who has less

earning potential, which lowers the African-American family socioeconomic standing (p. 209).
The purpose of this essay is to examine how the historical attitudes towards the education of

African-Americans particularly in higher education and the historical negative characterization

of African-American men could possibly impact their performance in higher education today and

communicate some possible actions that university leaders could take to help improve the

success of African-American men in higher education.

Historical Analysis
From the early colonial years, even though colleges sought through missionary efforts to

educate Native Americans there is no record of efforts towards the collegiate education of

African Americans (Thelin, 2011, p. 30). Even when colleges for African-Americans were

established in later years, they often were victims of discrimination which left them under

represented and underserved. For example when land-grant where extended to include black

colleges, these colleges were disproportionately underfunded or neglected with respect to

facilities, staffing, and salaries (Thelin, 2011, p. 136). Thelin (2011) noted that it was standard

practice to exclude black colleges from national media advertisement. This helped to informally

exclude African-Americans from participating in higher education either through opportunity

awareness or negative stigma. Almost all colleges around 1900 for black students were

academically inept and offered little college level instruction in comparison to their white

counter parts (Thelin, 2011, p. 186). Racial exclusion in higher education was both a national

problems and the enrollment of African-American prospective students remained limited (Thelin,

2011, p. 232). Even though the 1944 GI Bill brought significant increase in college participation,

it has minimal impact for many African-Americans. The bill carried no requirement for
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nondiscrimination for participating institutions and as a result colleges that traditionally excluded

minorities continued to do so (Thelin, 2011, p. 267).

The attitudes towards the education of African-Americans is often reflected in the

characterization of African Americans historically. This is been particularly significant in the

depiction of African-American men. Tyrone C. Howard, Terry K. Flennaugh, & Clarence L.

Terry, Sr., (2012) give a very telling snapshot of this moral and intellectual characterization:
A number of scholars have described the evolution of Black male characterizations over

the past several centuries. Early 17th and 18th century images typically cast Black men as

physically strong, mentally inept, hyper-sexed brutes who were well suited for slavery,

and deemed to be subhuman. Over time, the image became more entrenched of Black

men being lazy, docile, and inhumane savages. We have also witnessed the depiction of

Black males as the Sambo or minstrel character, who only sought to entertain their

superiors. Many of the twentieth century depictions painted Black males as pimps, thugs,

hustlers, and law-breaking slicksters who were not to be trusted, were not worthy of equal

treatment, and needed to be marginalized because they were a menace to society, prone

to violence, and constantly involved in gangs and drugs (p. 89).

These images promote social and intellectual inferiority and coupled with historical

challenges in education, could have a negative impact upon educational performance among

African American males. It has been posited by some therapist that the social reinforcement of

racially oppressive assumptions eventually penetrates the psyche of African Americans and

shape a negative perception of themselves and others within their race (Harper, 2006, p. 337).

Bell Hooks work (as cited in Harper, 2006), indicates that African-American males are groomed

to devalue educational achievement and social messages are often reinforced through their

families and peers.

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A significant proportion African American men who do make it to college are underprepared

for the academic challenges because of issues that stem from what Cuyjet (1997) describes as:
attending academically poorer elementary and secondary schools, lowered expectations

of peers and significant adults toward academic achievement, peer pressure to disdain

educational accomplishments and education as an outcome, financial hardships limiting

educational access, lack of appropriate role models, and other barriers owing to racism

(pp. 6-7).
Although not all of these factors can be linked to historical negatives attitudes or actions towards

African Americans as it relates to education, all factors must be considered when addressing the

unique challenges of African Americans in higher education.

Suggested School Leadership Responses
There are several steps that higher education administrators can take to aid in the successful

participation of African American males in colleges and universities. Administrators can start

with a twofold agenda of helping to provide a nonthreatening environment that nurture higher

expectations for success and reeducating the majority community about the inaccurate nature of

generally held perceptions about African American (Cuyjet, 1997).

As it relates to retention, Tito (as cited in Brooks, Jones, & Burt, 2013 ) provided a template

of general approaches that include: providing an environment of high academic expectations for

their students; providing students clear and consistent advice to aid in understanding the

curriculum requirements and the requirements for scholastic professions; providing continuous

academic, social, and personal support; making students feel valued; and possibly most

importantly, creating settings that foster learning.

Brooks, Jones, & Burt, 2013 suggested that some general methods to retain African-American

male students include faculty/student mentoring sessions and student engagement through co-

curricular programs assisting students in exploring possible career options. Mentoring is a key

element, particularly as it relates to mentoring from African American faculty or staff. Carlos A.
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Gonzalez, a lawyer who has been appointed by federal courts to monitor the college-

desegregation cases in Alabama and Tennessee, suggested that Institutions and their leaders have

to actively set an inclusive tone to be able to make progress in attracting more underrepresented

faculty members and administrators at predominantly white universities (Hebel, 2004, 26).
Conclusion
There are several actions not listed that higher education leadership could take to help address

the challenges that African American men face in higher education. However, the nature and

scope of this paper would not permit a broad enough scope to include all possibilities. There is

significantly more research needed in measuring how African American men from various

demographic location are affected such as those from northern regions and those from southern

or other regions of the country. Also there need to be measure base on inner city verses suburban

or rural habitants. There also needs to be more research in the effectiveness of approaches

outlined by various groups. The situations with African American males in higher education is a

complicated matter that presents new challenges and requires efforts that partner both

administrators and community leaders.

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References
Brooks, M., Jones, C., & Burt, I. (2013). Are African-American Male Undergraduate Retention

Programs Successful? An Evaluation of an Undergraduate African-American Male

Retention Program. Journal Of African American Studies, 17(2), 206-221.

doi:10.1007/s12111-012-9233-2
Cuyjet, M. J. (1997). African American Men on College Campuses: Their Needs and Their

Perceptions. New Directions For Student Services, (80), 5-16.

Harper, S. R. (2006). Peer Support for African American Male College Achievement: Beyond

Internalized Racism and the Burden of "Acting White.". Journal Of Men's Studies, 14(3),

337-358.
Hebel, S. (2004). Segregation's Legacy Still Troubles Campuses. Chronicle Of Higher

Education, 50(36), A24-A27.

Howard, T. C., Flennaugh, T. K., & Terry Sr., C. L. (2012). Black Males, Social Imagery, and the

Disruption of Pathological Identities: Implications for Research and Teaching.

Educational Foundations, 26(1/2), 85-102.

Kim, Eunyoung & Hargrove, D. T. (2013). Deficient or Resilient: A Critical Review of Black

Male Academic Success and Persistence in Higher Education. Journal Of Negro

Education, 82(3), 300-311.

Thelin, J. R. (2011). A history of American higher education (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns

Hopkins University Press.