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This article describes the meaning of the African American female social work educator’s experience in predominantly white educational settings. The experiences and special challenges of African American women in these settings are the focus of attention and are discussed from the framework of Kanter’s theory of proportional representation (Kanter, Men and women of the corporation, New York, NY: Basic Books, ). The tenets of Relational/Cultural theory are applied to illustrate the importance of interpersonal connections in the social work academic environment as well as to provide a framework for the emotional, psychological, social and spiritual consequences of their experiences. Implications for institutional change as well as recommendations are provided to address the interpersonal challenges that African American female social work educators face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African American faculty constitute a small number of faculty members who teach at predominantly White colleges and universities. Although their presence within these institutions is beneficial for a number of reasons, they often face many challenges on various levels. In this paper the authors address the physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, social and legal concerns faced by African American faculty who teach at majority institutions. Recommendations for thriving in these environments are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the challenges that African Americans face teaching predominantly white classes at the tertiary level, and argues that these challenges can be resolved by establishing strong ties between students and teachers. While it is largely black faculty who incur the costs of this relationship building, the paper notes that they probably are not the only beneficiaries. White students are likely to benefit as well, as is society at large. The paper’s analysis suggests that black faculty face work that is outside the scope of what white faculty must do. Such work can be viewed as another dimension of the burden of delivering a “hidden curriculum” for their predominately white institutions of employment (Brayboy, Journal of Black Studies 34: 72–86, 2003). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the factors that contribute to African American males successfully completing a baccalaureate degree. Employing a qualitative research design, the author conducted focus group interviews with African American male graduate students ( n = 11). Participants identified four factors as being significant contributors to their successful completion of a baccalaureate degree: (1) having an epiphany about the importance of higher education; (2) having access to the resources needed to attend and persist in an institution of higher education; (3) having a mentor, and (4) being resilient when faced with obstacles. Implications for institutions of higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of African American women at predominantly white institutions is one of historical relevance and continues to be one of first, near misses, and almosts. Individually and collectively, African American women at PWIs suffer from a form of race fatigue as a result of being over extended and undervalued. The purpose of this article is to present the disproportionate role African American women assume in service, teaching, and research as a result of being in the numerical minority at PWIs. Information is presented to provide an overview on racism in the academy, images and portrayals, psychosocial, spiritual, and legal issues for African American women faculty. Finally recommendations are presented to assist African American women faculty, and administrators, colleagues, and students at PWIs to understand and improve the climate at their institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of sociology is an exciting subfield of the discipline of sociology that, of late, has sought to include numerous African Americans into its master narrative. Unfortunately, I am painfully aware that many of the newer works contain many omissions; are often uncritical; and often are not thoroughly researched. This essay calls attention to these highly-charged and explosive mine fields that prevent the full inclusion of progressive Africana politics in sociology’s controversial history. None-the-less, I am compelled to confess that with the proper nurturing, that is, with the rich input of African American and African Diaspora studies, we will eventually achieve the fruition of an ecumenical and diverse history of sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports cards may seem to be of little interest to social scientists, but sports cards and card collecting can be a rich and unique source of data for examining the social world. They reveal information not only about those who collect them, but about the society and social conditions under which they are produced. This paper examines a very unique numbering system developed by the Topps Chewing Gum Company (Topps) to differentiate status among the players appearing on the cards in its annual football sets. The system Topps developed assigned a number to each card that designated a player’s placement in a set, while simultaneously creating a hierarchical ordering among the players, purportedly based on their performance. Was the ranking of players in the numbering system truly based on performance or on other criteria, such as race? The findings of this study suggest that player position, and to a lesser degree his on-the-field performance, not race, was the main determinant of where he was located in the card set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on interview data provided by 230 black males in America. Three important concepts—emasculation, dehumanization, and inferioritization are used in this work to characterize the outcome of the socialization process for black males. The theoretical orientation includes the structural-functional relationship of the socialization process to the larger society; with the primary emphasis on self-esteem. Early family life socialization does not produce significant differences in interpretations of self and the world in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]