Conflict in the Community

Chapter 4 charts the most contested phase of Black educational activism in the North as support for Black-controlled schools expanded alongside the Black Power movement, concurrent with the growth of court-ordered school desegregation across the urban North. “Community-control” activists, like those in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, saw separation as a rational response to what they viewed as the dismal failure of school integration. They called for community control over administration, curriculum, pedagogy, and hiring in majority Black schools and called for desegregation plans to be halted. Student activists demanded Black history courses, fairer discipline and dress code policies, and more respect for Black culture. Not everyone agreed with this renewed vision of autonomous Black institution-building, especially an older generation of civil rights warriors. Although briefly appealing, community control and Afrocentric curricula did not successfully equalize public education and receded in the early 1970s.

Condom Attitudes and Condom Use Among First Year College Men Attending A Historically Black Institution

The increased sexually transmitted infection incidence rate for people aged 25 and younger dis-proportionately high, particularly among young African Americans. The purpose of this study was to exam-ine condom use and attitudes over a three-year period among first year college men attending a HistoricallyBlack College/University. A total of 1,117 first year men participated in the study. Condom use at lastsexual encounter was positively related to positive condom attitudes and having gotten someone pregnantwas negatively related to positive condom attitudes during years one and two. Our findings support theneed for the development of effective interventions.

The “Negro Problem,” the “Mormon Problem,” and the Pursuit of “Usefulness” in the White American Republic

By examining Booker T. Washington's (little studied) relationship with Mormon elites, this article introduces the category of “usefulness” to scholars who investigate how racially and religiously marginalized Americans have sought acceptance in the “white American republic.” Washington's 1913 visit to Utah was the high point in a decade-long public campaign of mutual admiration. Washington and the Mormons’ high regard for each other—an aberration in much of black-Mormon relations—was based on similar histories of discrimination at the hands of white Protestant Americans. It was also based on similar beliefs that to overcome their status as “problem” people, Washington-led blacks and Mormons had to prove their “usefulness”—a form of respectability politics—to themselves and to the American republic. To do so, they pointed to the fruits of their own and each other's usefulness: economic productivity, educational advancement, and middle-class mores. While these fruits were similar, the roots were different, and racialized. For the Mormons, usefulness arose from a post-polygamy Mormon religion through which they asserted their whiteness. For Washington, usefulness arose not from the “Negro” church—the only independent black institution in American history—but from educational institutions like Tuskegee, which promoted black advancement under the control of white supremacy.

Financial Literacy of African American College Students: Evidence and Implications from One Historically Black Institution

This study examines the level and determinants of financial literacy among African American college students of a historically black college. The results from this study show that financial literacy is very low among African-American college students: less than 4% of respondents could answer all five financial literacy questions designed to test basic economics and financial concepts used in everyday lives. While determining factors that influence financial literacy of African American college students, the study finds that being in higher-class ranks and older in age have significant effects on students’ financial literacy levels. The findings of this study support the need for financial literacy education for African American college students of a historically black college to effectively promote their financial literacy levels.

Being White in Black Spaces: Teaching and Learning at a Predominately Black Institution

This paper serves as a beginning conversation of how two White males perspectives’ were shaped and how those perspectives evolved while attending and teaching at a Predominately Black Institution (PBI). Their initial understandings of Whiteness are introduced. This is an ethnographic study that utilized personal narratives from a college professor and a doctoral student as they explore Whiteness at a PBI.

Playing the Game: Recruiting Black Males in Teaching

The purpose of this comparative study is to ascertain the experiences and perceptions of four Black males enrolled in teacher preparation programs, one at a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) and three at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Findings provide insight for Colleges of Teacher Education to understand the barriers that prevent Black males from successfully matriculating and entering the teaching profession.

Training Bilingual Educators at a PBI

While Bilingual Education has traditionally been associated with linguistic diversity, the rise of the number of African-American teacher candidates in a Bilingual Education program at a mid-west Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) is causing the authors to reevaluate the input of this program’s curriculum and the output of the candidates’ understanding. The focus of this article is the training and preparation of bilingual educators at a PBI. The first section focuses on theoretical aspects of bilingual programming, and helps the reader understand how demographics and legislation have a strong impact on the educators who obtain licensure to work in the field of Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) Education. The second section focuses on (1) results obtained in a review of national and state demographics, (2) results from a survey highlighting the experiences of teacher candidates in a Bilingual Education program at a PBI in the mid-west, and (3) results from interviews with teacher candidates regarding the experiences of these same candidates. Results are used to draw conclusions about program strengths and weaknesses to improve and broaden the understanding of the instructional methods needed in this Bilingual Education program curriculum.