At Dartmouth College, there is a significant amount of ethnic diversity, but unfortunately there is also noticeable segregation among the various racial groups. Many of my peers have expressed difficulties similar to mine when attempting to work with groups of people who were not their own race. When crafting an ethnography on misrecognition of African-American males at Dartmouth, I was surprised by the agreement among my peers on the issue and their shared concern over the topic. At Dartmouth, African-American males often feel that they are misrecognized and because of this misrecognition, they are not included by their peers. Craig Steven Wilder, a former Dartmouth history professor wrote a book on race in the ivy league titled “Ebony and Ivy”. In the book, he wrote “higher education had its greatest period of expansion as the African slave trade peaked… Human slavery was the precondition for the rise of higher education in America,” (Wilder). In today’s society, these people who were oppressed in order to build these institutions are still facing negativity from them. Wilder made the connection that “Slaveholders became college presidents. The wealth of the traders determined the locations and decided the fates of colonial schools… the politics of the campus conformed to the presence and demands of slave-holding students as colleges aggressively cultivated a social environment attractive to the sons of wealthy families,” (Wilder) African-Americans have faced issues in elite colleges since their founding. Dartmouth should emphasize measures which promote inclusion among differing racial communities, by discouraging stereotypes and implicit bias.

The perception of African-American people at Dartmouth as individuals are linked with the actions of the group as a whole. Even though the members of the African-American community at Dartmouth do not believe this grouping is fair, they still expect the best behavior amongst themselves peers in order to defeat these stereotypes. Dispelling stereotypes will help create a more inclusive environment at Dartmouth because it allows people to have a neutral first impression. There are a lot of negative stereotypes associated with persons of color in the Unites States which present themselves in the form of implicit bias. This implicit bias is a bias which one possess against a certain group of people without being knowledgeable of this bias. Black people are often associated with being low social status while white people are often associated with being a high socioeconomic status. A study was conducted by JB Freeman to test this theory, “In an experiment where individuals were asked to differentiate between white and black people ‘Low-status cues presented with a face increased the likelihood of Black categorization, whereas high-status cues presented with a face increased the likelihood of White Categorization’” (Freeman) His results demonstrate that someone is more likely to be considered African-American based on which socioeconomic status they appear to be.

Unfortunately, the majority of people let stereotypes skew their thoughts. Citing the thoughts of Willis and Todorv, Leslie Zebrowitz stated that “Cultural wisdom instructs us not to judge a book by its cover. This warning suggests both that our natural inclination is to judge people by their appearance and that doing so will lead to erroneous first impressions. … First, impressions from faces are fast and automatic” (Zebrowitz.) In her research, she desired to provide a better understanding of what factors impact first impressions the most. She found that “Facial qualities that ordinarily distinguish any of these categories of people can influence first impressions even when the person being judged does not actually belong to the category but only physically resembles those who do. The resulting overgeneralized impressions can predict significant social consequences in employment, judicial, and political settings, to name a few” (Zebrowitz). Zebrowitz also warned that this practice of stereotyping is a very dangerous one. She noted that there is no justified basis of these generalizations.  “Until there is clear evidence regarding which trait impressions from faces show sufficient accuracy to warrant using them to guide our behavior, it would seem wise to heed the admonition “don’t judge a book by its cover” Racial discrimination is a very serious issue that plagues African-Americans of all age groups. “Based on a sample of African Americans ages 15 to 70 years, Landrine and Klonoff reported that 98.1% of Blacks said they experienced racial discrimination during the past year and 100% reported that they had experienced racial discrimination at some point during their lifetime.” (Smith) Much of this stereotyping of African Americans is experienced first-hand on college campuses. I compiled field notes based on my brief experience at this institution thus far. I also interviewed seven students regarding their experiences and opinions on first impressions. In the field notes it was found that the African-American community is a very close one who cares about each other. All of the students interviewed noted the superficial nature of the factors they are judged on. It upset them that rather than their personalities and intellect being valued, their appearance and the misinformed opinions of others have the biggest impact on their impression. My findings correlate with the information gathered in the studies of Smith and Freeman. The students who were interviewed all noted negative stereotypes as a likely reason for being perceived as unapproachable. All of the African-American males interviewed also noted racial discrimination they have received in their life. Freeman’s finding differ from the other scholars’ findings because he questioned whether this issue was still present when the race of someone is ambiguous. All of the African-American students which were interviewed in my ethnography did not possess a skin toned that is visually close to an individual of a different race. Freeman’s findings expose the extent of the stereotyping of African-American people in the United States. There are increasingly more people of mixed races in the United States, and unfortunately according to Freeman’s findings their social status will make them be perceived as only one part of their background.

The experience of African-American males in higher education at institutions other than Dartmouth have also been negative. Edward Bell found that, “the current education landscape might be ill-equipped to deal with the needs of African Americans” (Bell). Bell feels that in order for the negative experience of African American males to be reversed, actions need to be taken. Multiple steps must be taken in order to provide an environment for African-American males to thrive in. “If teachers, counselors, school psychologists, and other educational leaders can more easily assess and evaluate the feelings of African American males…. These efforts have the potential to abate the negative feelings that African Americans have about their schooling experiences.” (Bell) The administration hire staff in order for their students to succeed. Accommodations sometimes are necessary given special circumstances. African American students in elite predominantly white institutions such as Dartmouth experience numerous additional problems due to their exclusion from their peers. Referencing the work conducted by Priller, Myers, and Smedly in 1989, William Smith states, “Black males attending historically White universities should not be misunderstood as individual failure to cope with stress or as being academically underprepared” (Smith) Black males are not struggling in predominantly white institutions because they are academically inferior to their white peers. African-American males are often ostracized in these institutions and that leads to numerous problem. It was found that in society there are macroaggressions towards African-American males. On college campuses, this hostility is much more severe and frequent according to Smith’s findings. There are 3 main areas where the macroaggressions were found on college campuses. “academic settings”, “social settings”, and “public spaces” (Smith). Freeman and Smith’s work both address the challenges that African-American males face at predominately white institutions directly. William Smith emphasized the areas which discrimination takes place on campus, while JB Freeman suggested methods for combating the issues African-American males are facing. The methods that Freeman suggests solving these issues could be used in the areas which smith has discovered. Each scholar values different factors that contribute to the issue of exclusion of African-American males on college campuses. Although their ideas differ, they can combine them in order to create a unique solution.

In order for this problem to be fully address, the amount of quantitative research must be increased. “Due to the current trends in this research area, future research must present the transitional experiences of collegiate African American males from a quantitative position.” Cameron Lewis acknowledges the power and practicality of evaluating the experience of African-American males using qualitative methods. He believes that these qualitative research methods have greatly assisted in understanding the actual experience of these people. But presenting a problem with solely qualitative research has its limitations. “an increase in quantitative studies will benefit researchers and audiences with more specific, large-scale, precise and generalizable evaluations into the lifestyles of African American males (Weiss, 1998).” This is not to devalue the information already gathered. An increase in quantitative research will further strengthen the argument of a negative experience of African-American males in the college setting because there will be data points which show the negative affects the population is suffering. An audience will be shifted from viewing this problem from a personal level, to a population level. If this issue is presented in a manner that demonstrates how it is plaguing an entire population, it will be addressed with a solution that assist the entire population. African-Americans have struggled with elite colleges in the United States dating back to their origination. The largest issue that they face today in a time period without segregation, are stereotypes. Colleges across the nations must recognize this issue and create campaigns that will effectively combat this problem. Measures which educate those who possess implicit bias on how stereotypes are incorrect will help eliminate the exclusion of African-American males at predominantly white institutions.

Works Cited

Bell, Edward E. “Understanding African American Males’ Schooling Experiences: A Qualitative    Inquiry.” The Qualitative Report, vol. 20, no. 8, 2015, pp. 1260-1269, ProQuest Central;       SocialScience Premium Collection, https://searchproquestcom.dartmouth.idm.            oclc.org/docview/1716946608?accountid=10422.

This source should bring light to some of the origins of the issues African-American male are facing in education. This information is relevant to my topic because it will provide fundamental knowledge on my research topic. It demonstrates how most of the date gathered on the schooling experience of African-American males is qualitative rather than quantitative. The author’s stance is that in order for the issue to gain more attention, more quantitative research is needed.

Freeman JB, Penner AM, Saperstein A, Scheutz M, Ambady N (2011) Looking the Part: Social     Status Cues Shape Race Perception. PLoS ONE 6(9): e25107.   doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025107

Research was conducted on the link between appearance and classification of race. In this study, it was found that there is a link between someone with a low status attire and identifying them as black. As the race of the subjects became more ambiguous the link between attire and their assumed race became clearer. Freeman noted that this displays implicit bias of the subjects. This information could be used in the paper to show how African-Americans are automatically stereotyped negatively.

Jennifer T. Kubota & Tiffany Ito (2017) Rapid race perception despite individuation and     accuracy goals, Social Neuroscience, 12:4, 468-478, DOI:            10.1080/17470919.2016.1182585

Jennifer Kubota and Tiffany Ito are both researchers in “the center for the study of race, politics, and culture” at the university of Chicago and the department of psychology at the university of Colorado Boulder, respectively. They conducted research on “individuated impressions”. They found that there is a strong tie between race and processing of initial information.

Lewis, Cameron L. “Understanding Research Methods to Study African American Males in           College.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 85, no. 1, 2016, pp. 3-15, ProQuest   Central; Social Science Premium Collection, https://search-proquest            com.dartmouth.idm.oclc.org/docview/1841956252?accountid=10422.

Qualitative studies were conducted to understand the intrapersonal experiences of black males. Quantitative research was conducted on their performance and support system. This research relates to my topic because it shows the experience of black males in a setting that I am conducting my research in. This author believes that more research is necessary that is quantitative in order for the findings to be accepted by the public.

Smith, William A., et al. ““Assume the Position . . . You Fit the Description”.” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 51, no. 4, 1 Dec. 2007, pp. 551–578

Zebrowitz, Leslie A. “First Impressions From Faces” Current Directions in Psychological  Science, vol. 26, no. 3, 2017, pp. 237-242

This is an academic journal entry regarding first impressions that are garnered off of the images of a face. This relates to my research topic because African-American males are often misrecognized on their very first impression. This impression that they give shows implicit bias of the people around them.