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“Outsiders Within”: Relative Opportunities for Low-Income Black Students in Elite Private Secondary Schools

Lois Weis, Kristin Cipollone, and Heather Jenkins

in Class Warfare: Class, Race, and College Admissions in Top-Tier Secondary Schools

This chapter focuses on the college-related experiences and practices of low-income Black students in elite private secondary schools. Like other groups in such schools, low-income Black students and ... More

This chapter focuses on the college-related experiences and practices of low-income Black students in elite private secondary schools. Like other groups in such schools, low-income Black students and their parents explicitly intend to use elite private schools for social and economic advancement. However, unlike privileged parents in both affluent public and elite privates who have consciously engaged the preparation and packaging of their children with an eye towards competitive college admissions since they were very young, low-income Black parents operate from a different structural location and accompanying set of perspectives. As data make clear, both parents and children conceptualize attendance at elite, private, secondary institutions as constituting an escape from poverty and a virtually guaranteed opportunity to enter the four-year (in contrast to two-year) postsecondary sector, a sector to which they do not see themselves as having access had they remained in under-resourced, predominantly Black and Latino urban public schools. In this chapter, we also highlight the unintended consequences of facially neutral policies and practices embedded within elite private schools.Less

Girl Drama: Black Female Students and the Spectacle of Risk

Amy Brown

in A Good Investment?: Philanthropy and the Marketing of Race in an Urban Public School

This chapter discusses another well-known trope: the urban, Black, adolescent girl, as portrayed both in teacher narratives and films, as well as in mainstream College Preparatory Academy discourse. ... More

This chapter discusses another well-known trope: the urban, Black, adolescent girl, as portrayed both in teacher narratives and films, as well as in mainstream College Preparatory Academy discourse. At College Preparatory Academy, the student population is primarily female (72 percent) and African American (81 percent). This chapter profiles three students whose circumstances, histories, personalities, and aspirations complicate mainstream ideas of the at-risk urban student. The school’s heavy-handed image management, “professionalization,” and marketing of its students not only furthers many of the deficit-based stereotypes found in mainstream films and teacher narratives; its marketing techniques depend upon and further social inequality by promising opportunities for students’ upward mobility with the help of a sufficient amount of private funding. This chapter shows how students’ perspectives and experience trouble this trope. It begins with a critique of the “ideal-type” African American, urban, adolescent girl in movies and literature, and uses the case studies of College Preparatory Academy students to critique the abstracted models of Black, urban, adolescent girls that are perpetuated both by College Prep’s marketing and by mainstream narratives about urban schools, like Freedom Writers (LaGravenese 2007) and Dangerous Minds (J. Smith 1995).Less

The Making of a Movement

Kenneth Robert Janken

in The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s

The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North ... More

The growth of the movement in Wilmington was stimulated by the presence of organizations dedicated to breaking through the suffocating restrictions of paternalism that the white elite of North Carolina and elsewhere deployed to manage the change in the racial order that they were knew they would not be able to stop. The chapter follows three organizations in North Carolina as they promoted their variants of black nationalism and Black Power and struggled to break the gradualist consensus on race liberation: the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, the Wilmington Movement organized by the North Carolina chapter of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student (later Youth) Organization for Black Unity. Bombastic Black Power rhetoric was part of the three organization’s plans, and the idea that emboldening blacks and scaring whites could shake things up and alter the balance of power. But they tested their theories of social change in practice, and it was through that process that the organizations made gains.Less

Their Rhetoric Is That of Revolution: North Carolina A&T and the Rise and Fall of the Student Organization for Black Unity, 1966–1974

Jelani M. Favors

in Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism

This chapter discusses Greensboro, North Carolina as the unofficial headquarters for the Black Power Movement in the south and the role that North Carolina A&T State University played in facilitating ... More

This chapter discusses Greensboro, North Carolina as the unofficial headquarters for the Black Power Movement in the south and the role that North Carolina A&T State University played in facilitating that development. Since the dawn of the turbulent 60s, A&T had been a force for change and an epicenter for student activism. With the dawning of the Black Power Movement, A&T students completely embraced the rhetoric of the era and followed it up with action. Those activists’ energies fed other Black Power initiatives across the state and soon led to the creation of a new national organization, as well as a powerful local organization that embodied the shifting agenda of the civil rights movement to address abject poverty throughout Black America. Those energies also attracted the attention of local law enforcement and the National Guard, which invaded the campus in May of 1969, shot and killed a student, and terrorized the predominantly black side of Greensboro. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the shifting landscape of HBCUs during the early 70s and the external and internal pressures that arrested the development of Black Power organizations during the decade.Less

Outlining the Problem

Micere Keels

in Campus Counterspaces: Black and Latinx Students’Search for Community atHistorically White Universities

This chapter presents the problem and briefly describes the data used to gain insight into how challenges to Black and Latinx students' college-going identity threaten their persistence. It shows how ... More

This chapter presents the problem and briefly describes the data used to gain insight into how challenges to Black and Latinx students' college-going identity threaten their persistence. It shows how it is important to quantify the racialization of college access and success at the outset. Race scholars have to start with empirical questions about why things are the way they are. Furthermore, they must push forward theoretical understandings that help us to explicate and end racial oppression. The goal is to highlight what have become long-standing normative expectations about the racialized aspects of degree attainment that continue to be perceived from the vantage point of individual rather than institutional failings.Less

(Dis)Integration: Facilitating Integration by Carefully Attending to Difference

Micere Keels

in Campus Counterspaces: Black and Latinx Students' Search for Community at Historically White Universities

This concluding chapter takes a step back to examine the bigger picture and suggests ways that colleges and universities could achieve greater integration by attending to difference. Latinx and Black ... More

This concluding chapter takes a step back to examine the bigger picture and suggests ways that colleges and universities could achieve greater integration by attending to difference. Latinx and Black students' college-going identity challenges are often created through institutional action and inaction, and can be resolved through institutional action. Higher education has shown itself to be a revolving door that puts too many Latinx and Black students right back outside their walls, with student debt and without a degree that would lead to the wages needed to service that debt. Although the persistence problem has been foregrounded throughout this work, the chapter shows that the broader goal of campus counterspaces is fostering persistence coupled with psychological, emotional, and cultural well-being. Too many studies show that for historically marginalized students, educational success comes at a high personal cost.Less

From Civil Rights to Anti-Apartheid

Sekou M. Franklin

in After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-Civil Rights Generation

This chapter covers the activities of three youth-based activist movements: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU), and the Free South ... More

This chapter covers the activities of three youth-based activist movements: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU), and the Free South Africa Movement (FSAM). It examines their experiment with creative organizing strategies in three parts. The first part focuses on the SNCC's organizing efforts after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its efforts to implement new strategies aimed at helping the organization adjust to a different political context in the second half of the 1960s. The second part turns to the SOBU who used framing and appropriation to marry African American students to black working-class politics and Pan-African movements. The last part deals with the FSAM and how the anti-apartheid campaign heightened the political consciousness of the youth about racial justice and transnational politics.Less

Friends Disappear

Mary Barr

in Friends Disappear: The Battle for Racial Equality in Evanston

Chapter 6 discusses how Evanston Township a well-respected high school created difference and promoted segregation. During the 1960s black students organized demanding courses and faculty that ... More

Chapter 6 discusses how Evanston Township a well-respected high school created difference and promoted segregation. During the 1960s black students organized demanding courses and faculty that reflected their experiences. They were largely successful. Semi-independent schools managed a large student population but divided friendships made in lower grades. Academic tracking or “second generation” segregation perpetuated a tradition of separate and unequal education. Poor and working class students were disproportionately steered toward vocational and remedial coursework. Less likely to have educated parents they were the least likely to bring to school notions of how to do well there. Parent involvement made a difference in some cases but not others. White students had options even if their academic record didn’t merit them. For those who were failing, special programs or private schools ensured graduation. Black and white participation in extracurricular activities was uneven further dividing students. Friendships made in the lower grades ended as students retreated to their own racial groups. Educational experiences were varied. Not everyone in the picture graduated.Less

Introduction

Candis Watts Smith

in Black Mosaic: The Politics of Black Pan-Ethnic Diversity

This introductory chapter discusses the ethnic diversity among Blacks. This diversity generates homogeneity in political attitudes and behaviors that are derived from a shared history and collective ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the ethnic diversity among Blacks. This diversity generates homogeneity in political attitudes and behaviors that are derived from a shared history and collective memory. For instance, despite of being minority, Black students in a university organize student groups around their ethnic identity—Duke Africa, Duke Ethiopian Student Association, Students of the Caribbean Association. Hence, the book argues that the boundaries of Black students and the contours of Black politics are (re)shaped by the increasing ethnic diversity among Black people in the United States. It addresses how African Americans and Black immigrants conceptualize who is Black.Less

Introduction: It Doesn’t Have to Be Race-Ethnicity to Be about Race-Ethnicity

Micere Keels

in Campus Counterspaces: Black and Latinx Students’Search for Community atHistorically White Universities

This introductory chapter shows how many of the identity challenges that Latinx and Black students experience result from how race-ethnicity increases the likelihood that they are also ... More

This introductory chapter shows how many of the identity challenges that Latinx and Black students experience result from how race-ethnicity increases the likelihood that they are also first-generation college students; that they attended high schools that did not offer a rigorous college preparatory curriculum; that they have to work for pay to afford college; that they cannot be carefree students and must help support the families they left behind; and that they must contend with many other nontraditional college student challenges. It discusses research and news media portrayals of minority student persistence. To that end, the chapter briefly introduces a cohort of approximately five hundred Black and Latinx college freshmen who enrolled in fall 2013. It reveals that these students were asking for access to counterspaces—safe spaces that simultaneously validate and critique one's interconnected self and group identity—that would enable radical growth. Radical growth can be understood as the development of ideas and narratives that challenge dominant representations of and notions about their marginalized identities.Less

A Free Press Must Prevail: 1971–1993

Kenneth Joel Zogry

in Print News and Raise Hell: The Daily Tar Heel and the Evolution of a Modern University

This chapter covers the growth, development, and challenges facing UNC in the last decades of the 20th century, and the pressures on the student newspaper, both financially and ideologically. The ... More

This chapter covers the growth, development, and challenges facing UNC in the last decades of the 20th century, and the pressures on the student newspaper, both financially and ideologically. The Daily Tar Heel came under constant fire for being too politically left, or liberal, even though there were some more conservative editors and columnists. Attempts were made to defund the paper, and/or shut it down, including two lawsuits. The growing conservatism of the student body is covered, along with the rise of the New Right nationally. The Black Student Movement, the Women’s Movement, and the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement (later LGBTQ) are topics debated heavily on campus and in the student newspaper. Importance of basketball is discussed, as the UNC tem becomes a national power. As the paper turns 100 years old, a plan is developed to again take it off-campus as a private non-profit organization.Less

The Origins of the Black Student Leadership Network

Sekou M. Franklin

in After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-Civil Rights Generation

This chapter examines the activities of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) from 1991 to 1996. It first describes the BSLN's parent organizations, the Black Community Crusade for Children ... More

This chapter examines the activities of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) from 1991 to 1996. It first describes the BSLN's parent organizations, the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) and the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and looks at the BSLN's leadership development and popular education programs. The BSLN represented an extensive effort on the part of post–Civil Rights student and youth activists to develop a federated youth formation that could address poverty, racism, and public health crises in low-income black communities. Through its Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute (EBCPTI) and Advanced Service and Advocacy Workshops (ASAWs), the BSLN trained over six hundred black students and youth in direct action organizing, social movement building, voter education, child advocacy, and teaching methodology and developed freedom schools in dozens of urban and rural jurisdictions.Less

Responding to the Call(ing): The Spirituality of Mentorship and Community in Academia: An Interview with Houston A. Baker Jr.

Ayanna Jackson-Fowler

in Written/Unwritten: Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure

In an interview with Ayanna Jackson-Fowler, Houston Baker, Jr. reflects on the progress and challenges of diversity in and out of the academy—from his time a Yale in the 1960s to his current position ... More

In an interview with Ayanna Jackson-Fowler, Houston Baker, Jr. reflects on the progress and challenges of diversity in and out of the academy—from his time a Yale in the 1960s to his current position as Distinguished Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Baker, the first Black president of the Modern Language Association, discusses the shifting role the idea of “community” has played in his career and how he answered colleagues who subtly undermine faculty of color he has championed over the years. The interview concludes with his thoughts about the role of the public intellectual during turbulent times, offering advice about how young scholars can, and should, conserve their time and energy.Less

Organizing for Change

Sekou M. Franklin

in After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-Civil Rights Generation

This chapter extends the discussion of the actions of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) by highlighting the group's activities from 1993 to 1996. It specifically analyzes three organizing ... More

This chapter extends the discussion of the actions of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) by highlighting the group's activities from 1993 to 1996. It specifically analyzes three organizing initiatives, the first of which is the Summer Freedom School program. Freedom schools, or alternative educational institutions for poor children, were utilized as pedagogical tools of protest for promoting children to challenge inequality. The second organizing initiative is the campaign against gun violence, a problem which became rampant during the 1990s. Together with the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), the BSLN developed a strategy to reduce gun violence among youth, while connecting this effort to ameliorative juvenile justice policies. They lobbied for harsher prison sentences, putting more police officers on the street, and the death penalty for juveniles. The last initiative examined are the organizing activities in three regions: New York Metro, North and South Carolina, and California.Less

The Collapse of the Black Student Leadership Network

Sekou M. Franklin

in After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-Civil Rights Generation

This chapter examines the intergroup tensions among the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), and Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN), as well as the ... More

This chapter examines the intergroup tensions among the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), and Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN), as well as the intraorganizational tensions that existed inside of the BSLN which led to its collapse in 1996. There was increasing skepticism among BSLN members, particularly among its leadership, about the commitment of the BCCC and CDF in supporting the youth formation's agenda and programs. Their skepticism increased after the CDF announced plans to launch the Stand for Children campaign in 1996 that targeted welfare reform legislation being deliberated by Congress at the time. Although the campaign had good intentions, it may have highlighted the challenges of institutional leveraging. The Stand For Children campaign neutralized the BSLN's program, which, in turn, encouraged its leaders to push for greater organizational autonomy. After the BCCC resisted the BSLN's attempts at exercising greater control over its agenda, the youth organization disbanded in August 1996.Less

Epilogue

Michelle A. Purdy

in Transforming the Elite: Black Students and the Desegregation of Private Schools

The book concludes by addressing how formal schooling for many African Americans is still an avenue for upward mobility in a U.S. society very much grappling with race and racism. The decisions ... More

The book concludes by addressing how formal schooling for many African Americans is still an avenue for upward mobility in a U.S. society very much grappling with race and racism. The decisions African Americans make about schooling are not simple, and black families struggle with the many variables that affect black students’ academic, social, psychological, and emotional outcomes. As African Americans continue to face dilemmas about schooling options and endure gaps in access to equitable public schools, they sometimes believe that historically white private schools are the better choice for their children. Yet racism and racial matters transcend school type, and many are challenging school cultures, no matter the type of institution, to be more inclusive and diverse.Less

The Martin Luther King Jr. Crisis

in Stanford in Turmoil: Campus Unrest, 1966–1972

In 1964, a group of faculty and administrators at Stanford University met to explore ways of providing equality to African Americans and other disadvantaged minority groups not only on campus but in ... More

In 1964, a group of faculty and administrators at Stanford University met to explore ways of providing equality to African Americans and other disadvantaged minority groups not only on campus but in society as a whole. Robert M. Rosenzweig, associate dean of graduate study, issued a memo describing some of the efforts being made at universities around the country to address this issue and asking President J. E. Wallace Sterling to do the same. Four years later, a minor but emotion-filled incident set the stage for the major upheaval at Stanford. The incident involved the East Palo Day School, run by Mothers for Equal Opportunity. Gertrude Wilks, a leader and founder of the Day School, accused two staff members of Stanford of racial discrimination. This chapter examines Stanford's race relations with its black students and the events that culminated in the crisis on campus, particularly the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the controversy involving the Black Student Union.Less

Fall ’68: Project 500

Michael V. Metz

in Radicals in the Heartland: The 1960s Student Protest Movement at the University of Illinois

Barely noticed that summer, the Clabaugh Act was struck down, as time had moved on. Project 500 began with a setback, as new black students meeting in the Illini Union to air grievances were rounded ... More

Barely noticed that summer, the Clabaugh Act was struck down, as time had moved on. Project 500 began with a setback, as new black students meeting in the Illini Union to air grievances were rounded up and arrested even before the school year had begun. David Eisenman, foreseeing the program’s problems, suggested the chancellor could have resolved it amicably. The Chicago Tribune falsely inflated the situation into a riot, legislators loudly demanded answers, and the Black Student Association (BSA) blamed the administration. In the end the trustees supported the program; with most charges dropped grievances negotiated, classes began.Less

The First Old Union Sit-in

in Stanford in Turmoil: Campus Unrest, 1966–1972

Stanford University tried to achieve a constructive outcome to the crisis triggered by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. One of the more important short-term consequences of this effort was ... More

Stanford University tried to achieve a constructive outcome to the crisis triggered by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. One of the more important short-term consequences of this effort was the separation of the organized black students from the anti-Vietnam activists. When another crisis erupted, the Black Student Union was not involved. For more than four years, Stanford had witnessed a disintegration of its judicial system for dealing with infractions of university rules and regulations on the part of students. This chapter focuses on the demonstrations staged by students of Stanford and the campus violence that followed, including arson. It also looks at the first Old Union sit-in on campus.Less