“WE’VE BEEN DOING THIS. BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME, PEOPLE ARE PAYING ATTENTION.” HBCU ATHLETICS’ AND RACIAL JUSTICE MOTIVATED COLLEGE CHOICE

Black people in America have proven to be able to survive against the racial tensions and attacks endured throughout history (Love, 2019). In our present context, continued racism and violence against Black bodies has shifted the narrative from merely surviving to a journey towards advancement. In this dissertation study, I use endarkened feminist epistemology (Dillard, 2000) as a lens owned by and familiar to Black experiences to explore how the recent violence against Black bodies such as Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and others has sparked a paradigm shift among Black student athletes. A few highly ranked Black student athlete recruits have made intentional choices after recent racial injustices by electing to attend historically Black institutions over their primarily White Power 5 counterparts. I utilize narrative inquiry with an endarkened feminist epistemological framework to explore the perspective of HBCU athletics’ professionals as they watch this paradigm shift unfold.