How Does Racial Identity Affect Historically Black Colleges and Universities' Student Perceptions of September 11, 2001?

Abstract

Building upon sociological frameworks articulated by DuBois, Winant, and Gilroy, this article investigates how racial identity formation among African American college students impacts student attitudes about their rapidly changing world. The study was conducted within two months of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Based on a convenience sample of 135 students attending historically black colleges and universities in the southeastern U.S., the findings indicate that racial identity attitudes (stages based on Janet Helms'1990 Racial Identity Attitudes Scale) as well as gender and student classification help to explain attitudes about the United States (immigration policy, perceptions of globalization, and military responses to the attacks) in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on September 11, 2001. Male and female racial identity levels and attitudes did not differ significantly. Racial identity stages help explain perceptions of globalization, pride in being an American, American foreign policy, support for the state of Israel, and the perceived treatment of women within the Islamic faith.