THE AFRICAN AMERICAN RACIAL TAPESTRY: BLACK ADOLESECENTS’ PRIVATE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL EXPERIENCES AND RACIAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT by Angela R. Birts The goal of this study is to better understand how African American/Black adolescents define race as central to their identity in private schools in order to create support that encourages their healthy identity development across school settings and organizations. CPED Session- Leading the (Re) Design of Your Online Program: A Bootcamp October 21, 2017 Oakland, CA

WHY THIS RESEARCH TOPIC? “Our self-perceptions are shaped by the messages that we receive from those around us, and when young Black men and women enter adolescence, the racial content of those messages intensifies” (Tatum, 1997, p. 54). Dr. Tatum poses two central questions for educators to contend with--Why do Black you think about themselves in terms of race? Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria. Her book and questions resonated with me throughout my doctoral studies in that I was the only Black girl in my grade during high school where I faced challenges figuring out my self-concept as a Black teenager. Research shows that it is common for kids of color to think of themselves in terms of race and begin to question who they are as they mature into adulthood. Arlie Russell Hochschild (1994) wrote about a “magnified moment”—“episodes of heightened importance, either epiphanies, moments of intense glee or unusual insight, or moments in which things go intensely but meaningfully wrong. In either case, the moment stands out as metaphorically rich, unusually elaborate, and often echoes throughout the book” (p. 16). In many ways, high school represents a magnified moment for Black youth who start to process race.

RACIAL IDENTITY IN RESEARH ON ADOLESCENT IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT Who am I? (Sharma & Sharma, 2010; Sadler, 2017) Who am I racially? (DeCuir-Gunby, et al., 2012) What is my relationship to my ethnic/racial group membership? (Peck et al., 2014) Black Racial Identity Theories and Expanded Models Cross Nigrescence Model (Cross, 1971) Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (Parham and Helms, 1981) Cross Racial Identity Scale (Vandiver et al., 2000) Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (Sellers et al.,1998; Scottham et al., 2008)

THEORECTICAL FRAMEWORK Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI) Salience Defines oneself in terms of race at a particular moment or in a particular situation Centrality Defines himself or herself with regard to race overall Regard Feels positively or negatively about membership in African-American community Public  Feels positively about his or her race Private  Feels that others view African Americans positively or negatively Sellers, Shelton, Rowley, and Chavous, 1998

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND STUDY DESIGN Social Constructivism: Epistemological stance Grounded Theory: Data analysis and data interpretation The Study: 12 participants 10 different school sites Grades 9-12 Reside in the Bay Area, CA Semi-structured interviews Research Design and Methodology Comparison between interviews within the same group Analyzed interviews Constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) Data Analysis RQ1: How do African American high school students attending independent schools identify racially and ethnically? RQ2: How do African American high school students experience independent schools as sites for racial identity development?

FINDINGS Racial Identity The different attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors an individual holds about African American culture and heritage. Race-based affinity groups Ongoing, informal meetings for individuals who share a race and ethnicity in common. Peer-to-peer interactions across lines of difference Interactions with peers who come from diverse backgrounds. Non-parental adult relationships Meaningful, supportive relationships with adults on campus. Participants defined their self-concept and sense of belonging to their racial group. Participants’ attitudes toward their own race were influenced by their interactions with and observations of the attitudes of those in school. Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI) dimensions elucidated participants’: Beliefs  Centrality Understandings  Salience Interpretations  Racial regard (public & private) Black youth beliefs about self-perception weighed with their different social identities that intersect. Black youth understandings of situational factors (e.g. school & people) and contextual factors (e.g. class & gender) shape their proclivity to define themselves in terms of race. Black youth interpretations of negative or positive experiences with other African Americans and negative or positive messages others hold toward their racial group impact their identity development.

3. How has what I’ve learned affected me on the job and in my life? Implications 1. School Administration/Educators Implement race based affinity groups Facilitate students’ social networks and interactions with other peers and adults of similar ethnic and racial backgrounds Promote youth involvement in the school community Hire teachers and staff of color Allocate resources to create programs that focus on identity exploration 2. Black/African American Racial Tapestry A new model Explores the weaving of racial, ethnic, and cultural identities that weft thread, African descendants, and multi-ethnic Blacks, piecing together their intricate, and complex experiences in societies and institutions, to encompass their multidimensional Black realities: Family background Racial-ethnic self-identification Knowledge School relationships 3. How has what I’ve learned affected me on the job and in my life?