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Abstract
For over a century, Black Americans have fought for equal rights to employment, education, prosperity, and freedom. Earning an education has been viewed as the way forward to secure independence. Over time, legislative and institutional policies have created greater access to education for people of color, with the development of an array of minority-serving institutions, including predominantly Black institutions (PBIs). Nevertheless, Black students remain the most underserved population and among the lowest in degree attainment across ethnic groups, particularly for Black men. Decades of deficit-based research have placed the blame on Black male students and their families, while far fewer explanations in the literature point to institutional barriers that perpetuate practices that place Black men at a disadvantage.Developing and implementing the Black male college choice framework as a conceptual framework and critical narrative inquiry as a methodology, the purpose of this study was to explore factors and experiences that encourage Black men to enroll in a public PBI. Four themes emerged as a result of semistructured interviews with four self-identified Black male research participants: family experiences, economic experiences, institutional experiences, and psychological experiences. Participants shared the difficulties and triumphs they experienced in making the decision to attend a PBI, as well as the strengths and strategies they used to work through challenges. An analysis of participant experiences using Langdridge’s (2007) critical narrative analysis is provided, allowing for further explication of the ways in which race and racism take form and influence outcomes for Black male students.