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There is an emerging body of literature examining the academic success of Black men attending predominantly White colleges and universities, though less is known about Black college men’s experienc...

This study examines the schooling of black male students in a U.S. high school. Drawing upon positioning theory and student resistance literature, I describe how the students make meaning of the pathologizing positioning practices of the school, including how they resist and internalize dominant discourses about black masculinity and how their performances of particular masculinities within the school are met with surveillance, regulation, and discipline. I argue that schools are locations where dominant ideologies of black masculinities are imposed, contested, and sometimes reproduced.

This study examines how black fathers and sons in the USA conceptualize manhood and masculinity and the racial socializing practices of black men. Drawing upon data from an ethnography on black male schooling, this paper uses the interviews with fathers and sons to explore how race and gender intersect in how black males make meaning of their gendered performances. Common notions of manhood are articulated, including independence, responsibility and providership. However, race and gender intersect in particular ways for black men. The fathers engaged in particular racial socializing practices preparing their sons for encounters with racism. Both fathers and sons adopted black existentialist perspectives, emphasizing self-determination and resilience as racially and politically motivated acts of resistance. Finally, the paper describes how the fathers modelled to their sons how to navigate racialized spaces as black men.

In this study, 19 young adults who were removed from their biological parents as children were interviewed about turning points in their lives that led to them to complete a post-secondary educational program or achieve at least junior standing in a four-year institution. The results suggest that a sense of autonomy, social and instrumental support, and access to “safe havens” interacted to facilitate turning-point events in their lives.

The school lives of black middle-class males are often overlooked and understudied. An exploration at the intersection of race, class and gender for black middle-class males provides opportunity for a more nuanced understanding of the black male schooling experience. Drawing upon student resistance theories as analytical tools and employing qualitative interpretive methods, this study documented the raced, classed, and gendered approaches to schooling of black middle-class males. In particular, this article highlights the ways in which black middle-class male youth balanced the academic expectations of their parents with the cultural expectations of their peers through tactical acts of resistance and accommodation. Their tempered approach to academic effort, disruption of school processes, and peer validated performances of black masculine cool were just some of the ways they navigated schooling as a site of conflicting cultural expectations. The intent of their resistance and accommodation in school as r...

The current literature on Black middle-class men is sparse, leaving little to be known about the raced, classed, and gendered experiences for many Black middle-class male students and their families. Employing qualitative methodology, this study uses critical race theory (CRT) to examine the educational experiences of Black middle-class high school male students through the counterstories of Black students and their fathers. This study highlights various microaggression events experienced by the male students as well as the forms of cultural wealth drawn upon by the fathers to divert the potential negative outcomes of school racism.

Drawing upon research conducted with Black American middle-class youth in a secondary school, this article highlights the use of participant photography with Black male youth. Participant photography is a visual method that places the power of photo documentation in the hands of research subjects, empowering them to document and reflect on social issues and cultural phenomena important to them. This article highlights the significance of the method when exploring the understudied lives of Black middle-class males, ethical considerations of using visual methods with youth populations, as well as the benefits and dilemmas of engaging Black male youth in participant photography. Visual and narrative data produced from the participant photography project are used to highlight the benefits and ethical dilemmas of the method when working with Black male middle-class youth.