Black Female Undergraduates On Campus

Intends to identify both successes and challenges faced by Black female students accessing and matriculating through institutions of higher education. This volume is aimed toward garnering an understanding of the educational trajectories and experiences of Black females, independent of and in comparison to their peers.

Since the 1976, increased attention has been paid to the diminishing numbers of Black males in higher education, and rightly so: the total numerical enrollments of Black female undergraduates has outstripped their male counterparts by a factor of nearly 2 to 1. Since intervention, however, the enrollment growth rate among Black males (60 per cent) exceeded that of Black females (40 per cent) (NCES, 2008). Needless to say, this good news was is welcomed by many. However, as Cole & Guy-Sheftall (2003) have pointed out, it may be misguided to assume that improving the status of black men will single-handedly solve all the complex problems facing African American communities. Are we indirectly neglecting Black females? And what of their future? The purpose of "Black Female Undergraduates on Campus" is to identify both successes and challenges faced by Black female students accessing and matriculating through institutions of higher education. In illuminating the interactive complexities between persons and place, this volume is aimed toward garnering an understanding of the educational trajectories and experiences of Black females, independent of and in comparison to their peers. Special attention is paid to women pursuing careers in the high demand fields of teacher education and STEM.

Intends to identify both successes and challenges faced by Black female students accessing and matriculating through institutions of higher education. This volume is aimed toward garnering an understanding of the educational trajectories and experiences of Black females, independent of and in comparison to their peers.

More than identity politics, intersectionality regards the inability of institutional structures to remedy discrimination because of the intersection between social dynamics which are often discretely conceived. (Crenshaw & Dill, 2009). This book focuses on the subpopulation of Black female college students.

Evans chronicles the stories of African American women who struggled for and won access to formal education, beginning in 1850, when Lucy Stanton, a student at Oberlin College, earned the first college diploma conferred on an African American woman. In the century between the Civil War and the civil rights movement, a critical increase in black women's educational attainment mirrored unprecedented national growth in American education. Evans reveals how black women demanded space as students and asserted their voices as educators--despite such barriers as violence, discrimination, and oppressive campus policies--contributing in significant ways to higher education in the United States. She argues that their experiences, ideas, and practices can inspire contemporary educators to create an intellectual democracy in which all people have a voice. Among those Evans profiles are Anna Julia Cooper, who was born enslaved yet ultimately earned a doctoral degree from the Sorbonne, and Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman College. Exposing the hypocrisy in American assertions of democracy and discrediting European notions of intellectual superiority, Cooper argued that all human beings had a right to grow. Bethune believed that education is the right of all citizens in a democracy. Both women's philosophies raised questions of how human and civil rights are intertwined with educational access, scholarly research, pedagogy, and community service. This first complete educational and intellectual history of black women carefully traces quantitative research, explores black women's collegiate memories, and identifies significant geographic patterns in America's institutional development. Evans reveals historic perspectives, patterns, and philosophies in academia that will be an important reference for scholars of gender, race, and education.

The latest book in the Key Issues on Diverse College Students series explores the state of Black women students in higher education. Delineating key issues, proposing an original student success model, and describing what institutions can do to better support this group, this important book provides a succinct but comprehensive exploration of this underrepresented and often neglected population on college campuses. Full of practical recommendations for working across academic and student affairs, this is a useful guide for administrators, faculty, and practitioners interested in creating pathways for Black female college student success. Whether this book is read cover to cover or used as a resource manual, the pages contain critical insights that should be taken into serious consideration wherever Black women college students are concerned.

Critical Perspectives on Black Women and College Success presents theoretically grounded scholarship and research that explores the experiences of black undergraduate women in college from a wide range of perspectives.

In this comprehensive volume, research-based chapters examine the experiences that have shaped college life for Black undergraduate women, and invite readers to grapple with the current myths and definitions that are shaping the discourses surrounding them. Chapter authors ask valuable questions that are critical for advancing the participation and success of Black women in higher education settings and also provide actionable recommendations to enhance their educational success. Perspectives about Black undergraduate women from various facets of the higher education spectrum are included, sharing their experiences in academic and social settings, issues of identity, intersectionality, and the services and support systems that contribute to their success in college, and beyond. Presenting comprehensive, theoretically grounded, and thought-provoking scholarship, Critical Perspectives on Black Women and College Success is a definitive resource for scholarship and research on Black undergraduate women.