A Black Male's Perspective

This book examines the academic experiences among high achieving African American male student-athletes at predominantly White NCAA Division I institutions in the Southeast region. Most existing literature regarding African American student-athletes at Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) have examined their experiences by highlighting major deficiencies of this group's academic abilities. Most studies emphasize these students' lack of preparedness, low academic achievement, and high attrition rates (Harper 2005). As a result, little information is available regarding African American male student-athletes who actually excel, achieve at high levels academically, and accomplish goals in which their non-student athlete peers do not. Therefore, this book will serve as a platform for high-achieving African American male student-athletes, and will provide various experiences and perspectives-which have been silenced for the past few decades. Self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) and Stereotype threat theory (Steele, 2003) will serve as the theoretical bases for this book. These theories will be used to uncover the motivation of these student-athletes, and also describe the stereotypical experiences often faced while at PWIs.