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Sturdivant, Alvin A.

College of Education and Social Services

2007

Ed. D.

Black men are in crisis. We have never had more opportunity for success and advancement than we do today, yet as described by Ellis Cose (2002), "We are watching the largest group of Black males in history stumbling through life with a ball and chain wrapped around their legs. If brought together in one incorporated region, the population of Black males behind bars would instantly become the twelfth largest urban area in the nation." Startling as this may be, it represents what I have known my entire life. Black men are in danger. We have been tossed out and thrown away by society. To many, Black men are of no value and are deemed inconsequential. We are at extreme risk for filling more cells than classrooms. Black men are under prepared, ill-equipped and in many respects invisible from the mainstream. We are hardly graduating from high school and those of us that are fortunate enough to attend college are leaving almost as quickly as we enter. We have been ravaged by disease, illiteracy, violent crimes, and poverty and yet there are many of us who move beyond our deprived existence.
As a Black man from a poor working class background, I have lived a largely deprived existence. Through the merging of statistics, history, biographies and my own narrative, I will expose the inequalities in the American school system, the impact of a capitalist society on education and the relationship among race, culture and opportunity structure. I draw on the empirical literature to inform the broader issues while examining the narratives of noted Black male authors from DuBois to Obama in order to investigate these issues more deeply through the use of Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology. Focusing on the cultural, racial, economic and political dynamics of higher education, through this dissertation I will provide a perspective on the educational socialization process of an African American male from a low income working class background. As a higher education professional, I will draw on my findings to influence future practice and development of intervention and support programs to serve the needs of African American males. This Scholarly Personal Narrative represents despair and pain, but also hope and power. This dissertation will go some distance toward refuting the notions of Black inferiority. By opening my life for others to view, I will create a genuine and authentic understanding of the individual nature of the Black experience; to disrupt the dominant narrative and weave the Black experience with the experience of other racial groups. I grant through this dissertation others the privilege of seeing my true self and hearing my authentic voice.