Chapter 16: Practicing the Rhetoric: Helping African American Students Persist to Graduation(in Predominantly White Institutions)

The number of students of color participating in higher education has increased considerably since the turbulent 1960s when African American students and others waged war against predominantly White institutions' (PWI) refusal to allow them educational opportunities comparable to their White American counterparts (Allen, 1992; Pounds, 1987; Wright, 1987). In response, Congress passed a number of significant laws (e.g., 1965 Higher Education Act & 1972 Amendment, 1973 Adams Decision, 1964 Civil Rights Act) to address the basic issue of equal access and opportunity for minority (Black/African, Latino/s, Asian, and Native Americans) and lower socioeconomic students (Cook & Córdova, 2006; Ponce, 1988). As a result, institutions have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of students from all racial groups, as well as women, participating in higher education—albeit participation more in theory than practice at times (Allen, 1992; Davis, 1991; Fries-Britt, & Turner, 2002; Katz, 1989; Pounds, 1987; Wright, 1987). But even with governmental intervention, many PWI continued to deny African American students admission into their universities, and those that did only permitted it “under carefully controlled conditions” (Wright, 1987, p. 6).