The Educated Black Man and Higher Education

In this manuscript, we discuss the seemingly fundamental conflict between the desire among African Americans, and particularly African American males, to improve their socioeconomic status, as demonstrated by their enrollment in institutions of higher education, and the reinforcement of unjust practices within academia. We examine family systems and individual personal characteristics and the role they play in Black male academic achievement through the theoretical lens of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory. Using this conceptual framework, we review the experiences of Black males, characterized by microaggressions, stigma, and internalized conflict, within academic and social settings in higher education, and the opportunities available for student affairs professionals to help ameliorate these struggles. We conclude with calling upon counselors to gain a better understanding of how their direct work with African American students in general, and with African American males in particular, as well as counselors’ ability to advocate for this group to promote systemic change, could have widespread implications for Black male student achievement.