Black Males on White Campuses: Still Invisible Men?

Abstract

am invisible; understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except me.-Ralph Ellison, The Invisible ManBlack male undergraduate (UG) students, like many other underrepresented populations in college, are confronted with a multitude of challenges, and uncovering the true realities faced by these students is the first step in exploring ways to help them succeed. White and Cones (1999) contended that there are four major psychological and social challenges occurring within the Black male population, including constructing an identity and defining themselves, developing and maintaining close relationships, coping with racism, and discovering adaptive possibilities within the Black way of being. Understanding the Black male UG experience from the students' perspective can help produce the true narrative that informs this population and the professionals who work with them. Further, Black male UG students can begin the re-evaluation process of understanding what it means to be a Black male in a predominantly White institution (PWI) and use their new knowledge to better navigate and succeed in these institutions.BackgroundExtant literature has confirmed that Black males attending PWIs struggle with racism (White & Cones, 1999), feelings of exclusion (Harper & Hurtado, 2007), and serving as representatives of Blackness for their white peers (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002). Allen's (1992) study comparing the experiences of Black college students at HBCUs vs. PWIs provides compelling evidence of the challenges still faced by Black college students at PWI campuses. Washington (2013) explored attrition of Black males in higher education in the state of California but highlighted this is a national problem. Harper (e.g., 2009, 2013, 2015) has conducted multiple studies of Black males in higher education. His work highlights the socio-political, economic, and educational challenges faced by Black men in every sphere of their lives and aims a closer look at their experiences in higher education. Extensive reviews of the literature (e.g., Sedlacek, 1987; Willie & Cunnigen, 1981) over the last five decades report stereotyping and stigmatizing remain major problems for Black men in academia and the issue persists today. These stressors have deleterious effects on Black men trying to secure higher education.For example, Reynolds, Sneva and Beehler (2010) reported that institutional racism-related stress was negatively correlated with extrinsic motivation but positively correlated with intrinsic motivation. In their study that examined the relationship between micro-aggression and self-esteem, Nadal, Wong, Griffen, Davidoff, and Srike (2014) found racial micro-aggressions in educational and workplace settings are harmful to self-esteem. In an examination of the relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms, Banks (2010) found the relationship between these constructs was mediated by college hassles. Results suggest that with reduction of college hassles, racial discrimination and depression might be decreased.Furthermore, Watkins, Green, Goolson, Gindry, and Stanley (2007) examined how stressful life events impact mental and physical health of Black college men. Black college men from PWIs reported school related stressors as being more pronounced than those who attended HBCUs. HBCU stressors were not school related.Most of these studies are quantitative in nature though some qualitative studies providing a critical examination of resilience factors rather than detrimental factors (e.g., Anti-Deficit Achievement framework) have been conducted (see Harper, 2012, 2015). In light of existing literature and informed by a national report produced by the SER. …