African-American Survey Report

The achievements for which the graduation speaker praises recent graduates from the narrator’s school differ from the narrator’ hopes for herself and her classmates in the aspect of success and achievements. The speaker praises the whites when it comes to being successful in their field of endeavor and always given the priority in many facets of life. He even gave the bragging rights for them. He made them feel the racial discrimination where whites are being favored over the blacks like them. They get all the attentions and assistance unlike the colored people who are not given the good opportunities for their future. The whites make sure that they are superior in every step of the

In 2010, Black females “earned twice the number of baccalaureate degrees than Black males (66% vs 34%). Also, 70% of Black men do not complete a college degree within six years,” according to “Deficient or Resilient: A Critical Review of Black Male Academic Success and Persistence in Higher Education.” Black males are usually a product of their environment which translates into their performance in college. Most of them will have friends and family who may discourage them and even encourage them to participate in illegal activities. Black males are not only prideful but they also put on a façade to the world that hinders their success. According to the same article, factors that contribute to a Black males success in college include “the ability to…becom[e] engaged on campus through leadership opportunities, the development of meaningful relationships with peers and mentors, and receiving ample familial and spiritual support.” In spite of the fact that, Black male students are often more successful at an HBCU because they feel more valued, they still have no chance to catch up with their female peers. They do not have the ambition and persistence to work hard particularly through the challenges that they face daily. They let their past failures, and their present obstacles define their future. Black males take the easy route and sell illegal drugs, commit robbery, gamble, rape and degrade women, and forget about the importance of their education, for a temporary relief. According to the article that is previously stated, “Black male attainment at HBCUs has declined by 6% in a single decade, and is currently hovering at 29%, in contrast with the 57% graduate rate of female counterparts.” In this article there is a study taken of 44 Black Males in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs at HBCUs. This

Today, African American students are under-represented in college and universities, and the reason is the ongoing disenfranchisement of African American students. Our education system needs be more responsive and needs to pay more attention to the college preparation for these students. People of color historically have been misrepresented, exploited, silenced, and taken for granted in education research (Dillard, 2000; Stanfield, 1995), (H. Richard Milner IV, 2008).

However, the struggle for success is particularly small for many Black students. There are many aspects that come along with attending an HBCU. Many are falsely portrayed throughout media, but students either current or graduated from an HBCU can attest through their different experiences. African American students have gained knowledge, awareness, self-identity and much more. Many graduates that attended HBCU’s continue to support HBCU’s because of the experiences that the university has taught them in everyday life and also in their career. HBCU’s tend to produce African American students that enter the adult world with an understanding of who they are. Being confident about their place in society and eager to influence their peers and the world

There are several Black male initiatives on college campuses around the United States that focus on supporting the high school to college matriculation and retention of African American males. Furthermore, these initiatives are designed to support Black males as they navigate through their perspectives institutions (Palmer & Gasman, 2008). Support can come in many ways. For the purpose of this section, I will highlight some of the programs that focus on the success of African American males; Penn GSE Grad Prep Academy, Sam Houston State University, The Ohio State, and UCLA.

Known around the nation as the Negro Wall Street, the community of Greenwood was the wealthiest black community at that time. African Americans moved to the Greenwood area of Tulsa to take advantage of the opportunities that were available to them.

While attending The State of the Black Union I saw how the concepts that we learned in class are still prevalent in our daily lives. A comment that was made during the State of the union address at resonated with me was that College bound is a privilege. Living in the inner cities of Richmond I see this lived out on the daily. Virginia Tech’s efforts to try and reach the unreached population has been shy of their goals. Even with programs like Fall Visitation, Yates program, Gateway program, Access, there are still catered to a particular group of people. Virginia Tech looks at African Americans as a universal title instead of an individualize one. The aforementioned organizations attract those African Americans who are more

A product of Hamilton Park, the only planned African American residential community in Dallas, I grew up in a two-parent household. My mother died when I was 13 and I became a pregnant at the age of 16, a reality of many youth in today’s urban communities. In 1988 I found myself struggling - a single parent with a house note, new car, no education or promotable skill set and on disability for two years. The economic strain propelled me to consider college. I took one class, passed with an A, and knew this was what I needed to do. After going to school off and on for the next ten years, acquiring only 45 college credit hours, and passed over for several promotions – I enrolled at Dallas Baptist University in August 1999. As a full-time

Although African Americans make up merely fourteen percent of the U.S. population, thirty-seven percent of people who are homeless are African Americans. Forty-two percent of African American children are educated in all high-poverty schools. In 2012, the mean critical reading SAT score for college accepted students was 428 for African Americans and 527 for whites. For mathematics, it was 428 for African Americans and 536 for whites. For writing it was 417 for African Americans and 515 for whites (National Center for Educational Statistics). These staggering data manage to encompass just a few of the issues that are prevalent among African Americans in the United States. However, people may find themselves wondering how these figures came to be; who is responsible and what can be done? Many will begin turning to stereotypes for justification of this issue: African Americans are lazy, African Americans are criminals, African Americans are indifferent towards education. Indeed, that shallow assumption can be made made based on sole observation, but further research unveils an extraordinarily different conclusion. In order to understand this, one must dig deep into the history books and study the turbulent past of African Americans. Doing so, I was able to form a deduction that shows the origin of so many issues that the African American community is pressed with. African Americans experience the ramifications of their pasts everyday through the effects of denied access to

There are several challenges that African American males face. In order to achieve success one must obtain an education and knowledge. In the past, for an African American to achieved and education, there were very few opportunties for them to obtain an education outside of a historically black college and/or university (HBCU). In the 1960’s, a majority of Predomonitaly White Instutitons (PWIs) open their doors and African American students were allowed to enroll with the purposes of graduating.

Black Americans groups are extremely diverse in a number of ways. Black Americans groups include people areas and this diversity affects their behavior in different racial backgrounds (American Indian, Black, and White) and includes people of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Spanish, and Central or South American origin. Each of these different cultural groups share a common language and some cores values that result in their being classified together, yet another group also carries its own unique culture, traditions and perspective. People from these different groups also have different immigration histories that further contribute to the diversity within the African group.

I do agree that the population at large and myself have some degree of racial bias. The population may learn racial bias from family, friends, school, and their peers. Racial bias may also be learned where one was raised. For example, if one was raised in a small town, not with a variety of races, this may cause some bias towards a certain race or perhaps not at all. When compared to a person that was raised in a city with a variety of races. Many people have their views about a race. The test results suggested that I was slight automatic preference for European Americans over African Americans.

Reflecting on the interview questions and responses, I noticed the differences in the African American Culture versus the American Culture. It was a culture shock for me because I have always been in the United States, born and raised here, and not experienced the African American Culture in this manner. While listening to the unique stories and different experiences, my mind shifted into a state of listening rather than responding. I was always used to responding quickly, but now it was my turn to be quiet and let them answer. The variety of foods prepared at meal times sounded delicious. They grew everything natural, and most everything was fresh nothing added to it to preserve the item.

In today’s world people are more focused on getting money and will do whatever it takes to get it. When you have money it brings power, but the ultimate source of power is knowledge. People are very pompous in society, and don’t want to know anything, and remain adamant. Individuals who are black has it bad from the beginning they are born. What black individuals don’t know is that blacks had the largest library in ancient time. The library was found in Alexandria Egypt. The books and scrolls were burnt by white men because black people knew how to read and write. Whites did not want blacks to have any education. Whites always wanted to be superior. Whites are always belittling black people and saying only thing black people are good at are

African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of Americans of African descent to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African American culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African American people. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential to American culture as a whole. African-American culture is rooted in Africa. It is a blend of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Americans of African descent to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values, and beliefs survived and over time have modified or blended with European