Chapter 10: Promoting Black Student Success: The Implications of Intersectionality and Multiple Identities on Perceptions of Racial Climate

African Americans have historically been shut-out of or received limited access to higher education. Today, they continue to face systematic, political, and social barriers in their attempts at attaining a college degree in the United States (Oakes, Rogers, Lipton, & Morrell, 2000). In line with historical trends, in 2009 Whites comprised 62% of our total college student population compared to only 15% African American, 13% Hispanic and 8% Asian American (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). Even in California, home to a significant portion of the nation’s Black population, we find the proportion of total college enrollment that Blacks represent is low and in fact among the lowest in the nation. Across the country, the aftermath of the dismantling or diluting of race-conscious practices in college admissions and the decline of public funding in K-16 public schools have created an increasingly disparate and hostile learning environment for students of color at traditionally predominantly White institutions (PWIs). As a result of these hostile racial climates, Black students continue to suffer from educational achievement and degree attainment disparities.