Black Student Stereotypes

I am researching the lives of Black students and how living on a predominately white school has affected them in their public and personal lives. This will give people an opportunity to hear about the cultural and societal values that black students hold and why spaces like the Black Student Union (BSU) are important and highly valued. My goals are to (1) see If potentially being the only black person in a space has discouraged black students from taking up opportunities. (2) If Black students fear the "Stereotype threat", which, according to Steele & Aronson (1995, p.1),”is being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristics, a negative stereotype about one's group." and the steps these students go through to avoid this threat. (3) How many …show more content…
(2) Within Interviewing I plan on talking to people of different grades, to see if there is a general trend in emotions. I will also talk to people that I know personally that go to historically black college universities like Howard to see the difference in opinions-if there are any.
In the Article "Thriving in Students of Color on Predominantly White Campuses: A Divergent Path" by Kristin Parades-Collins follows the story around Katrina an African American student at a small private predominantly white on the west coast. Within her first year Katrina felt "invisible" by her White peers a sentiment that was repeated by Brianna Hassell a Sophomore at Skidmore College. Bennett and Okinaka (1990) came up with the phenomenon of positive college adjustments as the "opposites of transitional trauma" which they define as the "level of alienation a student experiences when unfamiliar with the norms, values and expectations that predominate". (p.35) Across the board the transition from High School to College is challenging, however for students of color (SOC) it is even harder. SOC at predominantly White Colleges have to face additional challenges, like fitting in with peers or roommates. Which was a situation that both