Bicultural Socialization Experiences of Black Immigrant Students at a Predominantly White Institution

In Immigration and the Remaking of Black America, sociologist Tod G. Hamilton confronts the trope that black immigrants have always achieved social and economic outcomes superior to African Americans. While conventional narratives pathologize African Americans as being culturally deficient compared to immigrants, Hamilton challenges this interpretation and offers a new reading of how black immigration trends are shaping the United States by using original and innovative statistical analysis. In eight chapters, Hamilton attempts to provide a new framework to understand an array of socio-economic disparities among the black population of America.Weaving together history and sociology, Hamilton examines the outcomes of black immigrants from fourteen countries across Africa and the Caribbean. The early chapters provide a sweeping yet thoughtful synthesis of black immigration since the twentieth century, the extant literature on labor market disparities, and Hamilton's own theoretical considerations. Importantly, Hamilton documents how scholars have feuded over how to weigh assumptions of cultural inferiority against structural barriers when comparing African Americans to black immigrants. Though the former has often been presumed, Hamilton posits that empirical evidence does not lend support to cultural theories. Rather, prior comparisons have failed to fully account for variations within the black immigrant population, the changing racial contexts from pre- and post–civil rights eras, and the implications of selective migration.In the remaining chapters, Hamilton uses regressions and statistical modeling to explore historical and contemporary disparities in labor market outcomes, homeownership, health, and intermarriage. Though inequalities between whites and blacks are stark, Hamilton employs three methodological tools that prove instructive and reveal gaps between black immigrants and African Americans as well as within the African American population itself. First, when comparing black immigrants vis-à-vis African Americans, Hamilton disaggregates the latter into “movers” (those who internally migrated, traditionally from South to North) and “nonmovers,” in order to better reflect the positive effects of selective migration and hold any questions of cultural difference constant. This distinction proves pivotal in his investigation and helps to account for various unobserved factors. Second, Hamilton implements a cohort analysis that traces black immigrant populations over their tenure in the United States. Lastly, Hamilton provides a detailed gendered analysis that reveals how black immigrant women fair in relation to both their male counterparts as well as African American women. Hamilton adds further nuance by separating black immigrants by native country to uncover new regional disparities. While readers untrained in sociological statistics may find Hamilton's models complicated, his analysis and interpretation are clear and incisive.In almost all contemporary areas of analysis, black immigrants have similar or slightly better outcomes than African American movers, who in turn, consistently outperform nonmovers. In reviewing labor market disparities, Hamilton's findings challenge prior assumptions that black Caribbean immigrants in the early twentieth century held advantages over African Americans. While their outcomes did improve with their duration in the United States, contemporary data reveals that over time almost all black immigrant labor force participation rates converge or surpass those of black and white Americans. In regard to homeownership, newly landed black immigrants own homes at lower rates than African Americans. However, using cohort analysis, Hamilton determines that homeownership rates of all black immigrant arrival cohorts since 1970 have improved, converged, or surpassed those of African American movers. Moreover, while health statistics reveal some of the widest racial disparities, black immigrants report “fair” or “poor” health at the same rate as white Americans. Interestingly, Hamilton finds that immigrant health deteriorates over time, possibly due to exposure to the effects of racism and discrimination. Lastly, intermarriage is one of the best indicators of social acceptance. Since the civil rights movement, white intermarriage with Hispanics and Asians has increased considerably; intermarriage with blacks, however, accounts for only 12 percent of all interracial marriages. Hamilton's findings lead him to conclude that W.E.B. Du Bois's color line of the twentieth century has shifted from Black-White to one that is Black-Nonblack. Together these findings indicate that both selective migration and historical context—namely migration in the post–Civil Rights Era—play a pivotal role in shaping immigrant outcomes.While Black Immigration challenges long-held notions of cultural inferiority, uncovers new patterns of stratification, and encourages future researchers to disaggregate the black population, some may find that it does not appropriately grapple with the impact of mass incarceration. Though Hamilton notes incarceration as a methodological limitation, he only does so as a variable impacting African Americans. Mass incarceration is a defining structure of modern American racial politics and Hamilton emphasizes the role of historical context and the post–Civil Rights Era as important for shaping immigrant outcomes, yet the book does not consider how the carceral system impacts black immigrants. Nevertheless, Hamilton presents socio-economic data and comprehensive analysis that will prove useful to historians and sociologists alike.

Abstract“Black immigrant literacies” is an intersectional framework that draws from diaspora literacy, racial literacy, and transnational literacy to center race and present teachers with a lens that can support Black immigrant students and their peers' literacies in classrooms. Black immigrant youth can be described as first‐, second‐, or third‐generation immigrants to the United States who identify as Black and who migrate to the United States from Africa, the Caribbean, or elsewhere. Many students from the Black immigrant population, though largely “invisible,” tend to be regarded as anew model minorityand asdesigner immigrants. New model minority perceptions of Black immigrants persist because of claims of immigrant superiority and because Black immigrants have long been perceived as having socioeconomic advantages over their Black American peers. Given that Black immigrants originate primarily from the Caribbean or Africa, accounting for over half of all Black foreign‐born people in the United States, and considering that the Caribbean remains the most common region of birth for the over 4 million Black immigrants in the United States, accounting for almost half of the total, I paint a selective portrait of the intersectionalities surrounding Black immigrant literacies as a basis for teachers to better understand Black immigrant students' needs in classrooms. I also draw specifically from Black Caribbean immigrant literacies to identify and describe five things that every teacher should know and can do when encountering Black Caribbean in English language arts and literacy instruction. Through provisions such as legitimizing “unbroken Englishes,” supporting “translanguaging with Englishes,”cultivating “holistic literacies,”and fostering “local–global connections,”it is anticipated that teachers of Black immigrants in the United States, Caribbean, and beyond will begin to unmask invisibility of this population in their classrooms. Through the use of this framework, it is also expected that teachers will be able to better support all students who engage with the literacies of Black immigrants in United States schools.

Purpose In this conceptual essay used to introduce the special issue titled “Clarifying the Role of Race in the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth,” I argue for centralizing race in research that examines Englishes and literacies of the largely invisible population of Black immigrant youth in the United States. My rationale for this argument is based largely on the increasingly divisive rhetoric surrounding Black immigrants and Black Americans, exacerbated by current racial tensions and further amplified amidst a politicized landscape and COVID-19. This rhetoric has erupted from often implicit and negative connotations associated with Black immigrants as a “new model minority” when compared with their “underperforming” Black American counterparts and evolved into the use of dichotomous intraracial ideologies that continue to pit one subgroup against the other. Beyond this, race continues to be present as a key part of conversations in the Englishes and literacies of Black American students. And the notion of race, as seen through constructs such as “critical race theory,” “racial literacy,” “linguistic racism,” and “a raciolinguistic perspective,” remains central to the conversations about how Black Americans’ language and literacy use is understood and evaluated in U.S. schools. Yet, we know little about how Black immigrant literacies and Englishes refect racial tensions that affect literacy instruction and assessment because data surrounding their academic performance across the U.S., more often than not, remains subsumed within the data of Black students overall. As they are immigrants of color who are subjected to similar forms of linguistic and racial discrimination often faced by Black American youth, and who also often undergo tremendous difficulty in adjusting to the cultural and linguistic differences faced in the U.S., why is race not central to the distinct, varied, and unique Englishes and literacies of Black immigrant youth? Theoretical Perspectives To address this gap in the field, I examine affordances from the lenses of diaspora literacy, transnational literacy, and racial literacy, which hold promise for understanding how to foreground race in the literacies of predominantly English-speaking Black immigrant youth. I demonstrate how each of these lenses, as applied to the literacies of the invisible population of Black youth, allows for partial understandings regarding these students> enactment of literacies based on their Englishes and semiotic resources. In turn, I illustrate how these lenses can work together to clarify the role of race in Black immigrant literacies. Implications Based on these discussions, I present the framework of Black immigrant literacies to assist researchers, practitioners, and parents who wish to better understand and support Black immigrant youth. I invite researchers who work with populations that include Black immigrant youth to consider how race, when central to research and teaching surrounding the literacies and Englishes of these youth, can provide opportunities for them to thrive beyond the perceptions of them as “academic prodigies” while also facilitating relationships with their Black American peers. I invite teachers to consider ways of viewing Black immigrant literacies that foster a sense of community between these youth and their Black American peers as well as ways of engaging their literacies in classrooms that allow them to demonstrate how they function as language architects beyond performance on literacy assessments. I invite parents to provide spaces beyond school contexts where Black immigrant youth can use their literacies for social adjustment. Through this essay, it is expected that the dominant population can gain further insights into the nuances that exist within the Black population and be cognizant of these nuances when engaging with Black immigrant youth.

The Segregated Schooling of Blacks in the Southern United States and South Africa

Dans cet article, l'auteur se propose d'analyser les similitudes dans l'education des Afro-americains et sud-africains noirs durant les periodes de segregation et d'Apartheid. La nature de l'oppression en milieu scolaire permet de lier les approches des Etats-Unis et de l'Afrique du Sud en matiere d'education pour les populations visees ainsi que l'usage par les communautes noires, dans ces deux contextes, de l'education comme ascenseur social, permettant de depasser les limites imposees par la segregation. Il est a noter egalement les strategies identiques, dans ces deux environnements, mises en place par les parents, les chefs d'etablissements et les enseignants pour encourager les eleves a depasser le contexte de l'oppression...

In the late T960s, Black students at predominantly White colleges and universities reevaluated the education they received. Influenced by the emerging Black Power movement, they sought to make their institutions more receptive to their needs, representative of their culture, and relevant to their situation as Blacks in America. However, many institutions were slow to change or were resistant. This article documents the support systems Black students created to ensure their psychological and academic well-being at predominantly White institutions and examines how Black students of that era cede, fined what it meant to be a successful Black student. INTRODUCTION Black student activism at predominantly White institutions of higher education in the late 1960s and 1970s began as an active response to their situation. Not unlike Black students in predominantly White primary and secondary school settings, many Black college students felt alienated and disaffected from their new academic settings and experienced overt or veiled hostility from White classmates, faculty, and administrators. However, unlike younger children, Black college students were themselves able to force change at their respective institutions and help shape the nature, direction, and purpose of their postsecondary education. This article examines the influence of Black Power era students on the programs and policies at predominantly White colleges and universities (PWCUs). It begins with a brief history of Black educational efforts to highlight persistent and reoccurring themes. Next, it discusses the strategies and goals Black college students of the late 1960s and 1970s employed to ensure their psychological and academic survival at predominantly White institutions including the creation of Black student unions, Black Studies departments, Black cultural centers, and academic support services. These services, often initiated by the Black students themselves, were established to promote their greater retention, academic success, and resiliency at PWCUs. Finally, the article describes how Black students at these institutions redefined the notion of academic success consonant with the newly political nature of Black identity at the time, the shifting perceptions of what it meant to be a Negro or Black, and the re-examination of traditional models of individual achievement. It examines how Black students merged notions of academic excellence and notions of social justice to generate new understandings about their roles, responsibilities, and rewards. Of course, not all Black students participated in the protests that precipitated the institutionalization of support programs for Black students and other responses to the increasing Black presence on predominantly White campuses. However, many did participate to varying degrees. This article is concerned with those students who demanded that the campus climate, organizations, and curriculum be responsive to their reality as Blacks in America and took it upon themselves to establish within the nation's higher education system organizations and programs for that purpose. THE AFRICAN AMERICAN POSTSECONDARY EXPERIENCE: A BRIEF HISTORY The African experience in the Americas has been fraught with social subordination, political repression, and economic exploitation. Though overtly discriminatory laws such as the Black Codes and other Jim Crow mandates have been stricken from the public record in the United States, African American subjugation persists, albeit in a more covert manner, but often with same insidious effects. Despite these barriers, African Americans throughout history have struggled for liberation using whatever tools they could obtain. Recognizing that education and subjugation cannot coexist, African Americans early identified education as one of the most valuable means by which to improve their standing in the U.S. (Watkins, 1993). They subsequently molded their educational initiatives and curricular approaches to respond as effectively as possible to social, political, and economic conditions that could, at best, be described as tenuous and, at worst, be viewed as unjust and inhumane. …

Since 1965, when the Hart-Cellar Act eliminated the national origins quota system, Blacks from the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa have experienced an easier time migrating to the United States. The last three decades of the twentieth century saw significant immigrant flows from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and other English-speaking Caribbean nations. Since 2000, more than half of black immigrants have come from African countries. By 2014, the number of black immigrants reached 4 million, 9.2 percent of the black population; more change is likely since 16 percent of black children now have immigrant parents. But Tod Hamilton, assistant professor of sociology at Princeton, does more than simply depict this compositional change. He directly addresses a controversial question surrounding this influx: why do black immigrants have better occupational, educational, and health outcomes than black Americans? Some have offered a “cultural” explanation for this differential: black Americans have a weaker work ethic than black immigrants. Others point to differential discrimination, and to the selectivity that comes with migration. Hamilton sets out to provide a methodologically and theoretically sophisticated answer to this question. First, he does note that migrants, whether international or internal, are a self-selected group. An extreme example can be found in Nigerian immigrants, 63 percent of whom had at least a bachelor's degree in 2014. And when Hamilton compares black immigrants to black American movers (those who live in a state different than that of their birth), he finds that socioeconomic differentials are significantly reduced, although not totally eliminated. He then looks at the possible impact of the time period when most black immigrants arrived in the United States: post-1965, after major civil-rights legislation had begun reducing the effects of institutionalized racism in schools, housing, and the workplace. When looking at 1910–1940 data for New York City, which had numerous black immigrants from the Caribbean at the time, Hamilton found little evidence that immigrants differed from the city's black population in measures of social well-being. These differentials come to the surface during the post-1965 period. Recent black immigrants never experienced the harsh racist system that many black Americans experienced: inferior education, segregated living arrangements, predatory policing, the consequences of which still affect black Americans’ life-chances. Also, recent black immigrants picked certain areas of the country in which to settle—they are 30 percent of the black population in the Northeast—and their economic and educational opportunities differ from black Americans accordingly. Through his systematic study of how race, migration, and nativity interact in black Americans lives, Hamilton has produced a more nuanced understanding of the achievement gaps existing between black immigrants and black Americans. His framework, based on careful choice of comparison groups, also provides a blueprint for research that might better understand the general achievement gap between black and white Americans.

Introduction. Most studies lump Black immigrants (BIs) and African Americans (AAs) as "Black/African American" during investigation. Such categorization assumes that the sociocultural determinants that influence BIs are the same as for AAs. This study attempts to disentangle the AA and BI subgroups to recognize the differences in cancer-related psychosocial characteristics and health behaviors. Methods. Merged data from the Health Information National Survey (2011-2017) were used. Two groups were created: those who identified as AA and those who identified as AA but were born outside the United States (BI). Between-group differences were assessed with Mann-Whitney U and chi-square tests. Results. Positive communication patterns with health care providers were significantly higher among AAs (M [mean] = 3.41, SD [standard deviation] = 0.68) compared with BIs (M = 3.28, SD = 0.71) (p = .004). A greater proportion of BIs indicated that their health was excellent (14.2%), compared with AAs (7.9%). AAs reported higher cancer family history (75.1%) than BIs (46.5%). More AAs had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime (41.5%) than BIs (16.7%). BIs consumed significantly more fruits each day (M = 2.77, SD = 1.43) than AAs (M = 2.40, SD = 1.44) (p < .001). BIs also reported more physical activity (M = 2.62, SD = 2.15) than AAs (M = 2.37, SD = 2.18) (p = .030). AA women were more likely to have had a pap smear test (M = 2.07, SD = 1.44) compared with BI women (M = 1.73, SD = 1.21) (p = .002). Discussion. Evidence suggests the need to disentangle the "Black/African American" ethnic grouping. Lumping the BI populations together with the AAs, who have been in the United States for generations, may limit the ability to uncover and consequently address culturally driven disease prevention efforts and promote understanding of the biological, environmental, and psychosocial risk factors within Black heterogeneous populations.

The career development of Black immigrant college students has been understudied. More often studies have focused on immigrants of the Latino/a and Asian backgrounds. The few studies that have focused on Black students do not distinguish between those of immigrant origin, rather Black immigrant students are lumped together with the native born African American students, negating their unique experiences. In this chapter, the authors present a theoretical perspective of understanding career development, factors that influence career choice and development, challenges in career development, as well as interventions appropriate with this population. Research has revealed major gaps in the understanding of Black immigrant students' college experience and career development. Consequently, future research suggestions have been provided.

This study examines teachers’ cultural awareness of Black immigrants and the pedagogical strategies they implemented that aided in the academic success of Black immigrant youth attending public urban schools. A related goal was to examine Black immigrant youths’ relationships with teachers and peers, the challenges they faced in navigating a new educational system, and how it influenced their academic performance. Drawing on culturally responsive teaching, we examined teachers’ cultural knowledge and understanding of the life experiences of Black immigrant students. Participants were 25 teachers and 20 Black immigrant youth. Qualitative research, including semi-structured and focus group interviews were used to collect data. Three major themes emerged from the study. These include (a) Black immigrant youth perspectives and experiences attending United States public urban schools comprising the following subthemes: (1) challenges attending urban schools, (2) students’ resilience to achieve success in school, (3) supportive parents and high expectations; and (4) navigating through school with bi-cultural identity. The second theme is (b) the multiple cultures Black immigrant youth bring to the urban classroom, and the third theme, (c) strategies of teaching Black immigrant youth in public urban schools. Findings demonstrate the need for teachers to understand the rich cultural diversity that Black immigrant students bring to the classroom to be able to connect with their life experiences inside and outside of school.

Psychological distress is associated with increased likelihood of chronic disease and mortality. Limited research has explored psychological distress among nationally representative minority and immigrant persons, especially Black and White immigrant populations who may be uniquely susceptible to psychological distress, its risk factors, and comorbidities. This current study aimed to estimate the prevalence of moderate to severe (hereafter, moderate-severe) psychological distress and assess its risk factors among Black and White immigrants, respectively. Drawing from the 2005-2018 National Health Interview Surveys data, this study analyzed a sample of Black (n=5939) and White (n=40,127) immigrants using weighted Chi-square test and logistic regression analyses. The interaction between race (Black and White immigrants) and each of the predictors was assessed, adjusting for the rest of the predictors. The prevalence of moderate-severe psychological distress was higher among White immigrants (19.56%) compared to Black immigrants (17.43%). Several sociodemographic and behavioral risk factors (i.e., low education, higher BMI, poverty, and smoking) were more strongly associated with elevated distress among Black immigrants. Age, acculturation, and alcohol drinking status significantly moderated the association between race and moderate-severe psychological distress among immigrants. The findings revealed that psychological distress prevalence and risk factors differ across Black and White immigrant populations, with more pronounced behavioral risks among Black immigrants. More population-specific mental health interventions may help reduce mental health disparities in immigrant communities while conducting longitudinal studies to characterize mental health patterns and changes with their risk factors over time among immigrant populations.

Preventative cancer screening among African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants.

Flint Goodridge Hospital and Black Health Care in Twentieth-Century New Orleans

Background In recent years, there has been a shift in migration pattern to the U.S. such that most immigrants are now coming from regions outside of Europe. These new groups (particularly Black immigrant populations) face acts of discrimination and injustices when they display, for example, linguistic and cultural divergence. Purpose This article explored the effects of raciolinguistic ideologies and moral licensing on the linguistic, literate, and broader cultural identities of Black immigrant youth and the subsequent impact on their academic achievement. Method I proposed a theory that links raciolinguistic ideologies with the concept of moral licensing to flesh out how the interconnection between these two concepts may be applied to explain seemingly helpful actions that are in fact harmful. Findings This exploration yielded a number of insights, but the standout point is that there seems to be a White Eurocentric way of being (that seems even present in schools) that has adverse effects on Black immigrants. Conclusions Under the guidance of caring teachers, Black immigrant students can be encouraged to feel valued and respected, and this should help to foster and increase their participation in classroom activities.

Data for this study emerged from a larger quantitative investigation of factors associated with the doctoral education of Black students attending selected historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This article discusses the variance within and impact of faculty-student interaction on doctoral students' positive academic and social experiences as well as their perceived program persistence - their belief they would persist to graduation. Specifically, external engagement - social components for student success external to a student's program and research practices - was found to be the best predictor for both students' overall experience and perceived persistence in the program. Recommendations for the ways in which faculty and administrators can work more effectively toward enhancing faculty- student interaction and perceived program persistence for Black doctoral students, particularly at HBCUs, are offered. Keywords: HBCUs, doctoral, engagement, persistence INTRODUCTION Over the last 20 years, researchers have learned a considerable amount about the academic and social experiences, and graduation outcomes of Black students who attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Research studies (Jackson, 2001; Outcault & Skewes-Cox, 2002; Terenzini et al., 1997) have suggested that Black students who attend HBCUs perform better academically, develop more meaningful relationships with faculty and staff, are more engaged in the campus environment, and have a better sense of encouragement and connection than Black students who attend predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Furthermore, HBCUs have been cited as being able to provide Black students with an educational experience that is unattainable at PWIs (Allen, 1 992) and have been credited for fostering supportive and engaging environments (Hall & Closson, 2005) where Black students have a bolstered self-esteem and sense of ethnic pride (Hirt et al., 2006; Palmer & Gasman, 2008). Moreover, HBCUs have been some of the largest producers of Black postsecondary enrollment and degrees awarded in the nation (Collison, 2000; NCES, 2004). In 2001, Blacks at HBCUs earned the highest proportion of degrees awarded at each level - associate's, bachelor's, master's, doctor's, and first-professional - with 87% being bachelor's degrees (NCES, 2002). The role of HBCUs in graduate education has been equally impressive as they have been a critical force in the production of Black graduate and first professional degree recipients. In 2005, the National Center for Education Statistics showed HBCUs produced 6,900 master's recipients (5,034 for Blacks) accounting for roughly 10% of master's degrees awarded to Black students that year (NCES, 2005). HBCUs have also been a principal producer of Black doctorates; between 1992-93 and 1997-98, HBCUs increased their number of doctoral graduates by 15.2% (St. John, 2000). According to the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), Howard University has been the largest on-campus producer of Black PhD recipients in the United States, awarding more than 340 doctorate degrees in all fields of study over that time span (CGS, 2007). While critics question the contemporary relevancy and efficacy of HBCUs (Fryer & Greenstone, 2007; Riley, 2010; Sowell, 2006), proponents have contended that by virtue of the outcomes and findings from the aforementioned research, HBCUs have demonstrated that they have and continue to serve Black students with considerable effectiveness, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels (Flowers, 2002; Fountaine & Carter, 2011; Lemelle, 2002; Palmer, Hilton, & Fountaine, 2012; Palmer & Young, 2008-2009 see;). Inasmuch as Blacks have made solid progress in earning doctorates at HBCUs, optimism for the future may be premature at this time. Oftentimes, data collected on graduate student outcomes are at the aggregate levels and fail to single out the accomplishments of doctoral students versus master's students. …