Paying the debt: exploring how African American college men navigate their racial socialization at historically white institutions

African American college men have always had a complicated relationship with institutions of higher education. More specifically, according to Harper and Quaye (2007), only 32.4% of African American men that enroll in college earn degrees in a six-year period. The low graduation rate can be attributed to institutional problems with racial identity, racial climate, and racial interaction (Bridges, 2011; Brooms, 2017; Harper, 2009). There is a considerable amount of literature that focuses on the negative institutionalized experiences of African American college men at historically white institutions. Harper argues that institutions of higher education need to use an anti-deficit approach when looking at the explicit and implicit barriers to success for African American college men (Harper, 2010).

Racial socialization refers to the process by which parents transmit both implicit and explicit messages about the meaning of one’s race in a broader societal context (Coard & Sellers, 2005). The findings of this study shed new light on transmitters of racial socialization other than parents and considers the role of the institution. In this study, I use a combination of racial identity, racial climate, and racial interaction to look at the experiences that African American college men have with their racial socialization into a historically white institution. I also look at the types of socialization efforts that institutions of higher education use in relation to helping African American college men. Although there is a considerable amount of scholarship on racial socialization (Coard & Sellers, 2005; Hughes & Johnson, 2001) there is a dearth of literature on how institutions of higher education use various aspects of racial socialization to create pathways to success for African American college men. The purpose of this study was to explore the racial socialization of African American college men at historically white institutions. I explored not only how institutions of higher education were socializing them, but also how they exist as agents in their own socialization.