Niggers No More

Niggers No More: A Critical Race Counternarrative on Black Male Student Achievement at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities

Shaun Harper, a tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania, focuses on black male student achievement primarily at predominantly white institutions. In this article Niggers no more: A critical race counternarrative on Black male student achievement at predominantly white colleges and universities, Harper used a popularized methodological approach used by critical race theorists. Critical race theorists oppose dominant discourses in main stream society about the social and educational status of black men (Harper, 2009). Harper described that some of the topics that are often covered in the media about black men are high rates in drug activity, gang violence, the product of dysfunctional families or the result of them, and the common suspect for rapes of white women (2009). The American society has done an injustice to black males and black male students over the last century.

Within this article, Harper used the word “nigger” or “niggering” to elicit the emotions that have been historically associated with this word. Also, he used this word in the article to show how school systems in America have “niggered” the black male student population. The word nigger has multiple meanings but in America it suggests second or third rate citizenship for African Americans (Harper, 2009). The result of 40 years of the word being used has allowed for K-12 teachers and higher education professors to devalue the worth of the black male student population. Black male students in higher education may have been ‘niggered’ by being told that they are unlikely to accomplish much in life even though they are in college (Harper, 2009). It is suggested that higher education institutions have claimed policies and programs that show they care about the black males but the institutional and structural barriers to black male achievement demonstrate otherwise. Harper suggests that what higher education institutions have done constitutes a form of niggering (2009).

Harper employs a method of research in this article that looks at black male students who are achieving in academics and student leadership. He uses the voice of the black male students to counter the media misperception that all black men are the same and without the ability to achieve (Harper, 2009). The article examines three main questions: 1) Is there an overlooked population of black males who are engaged and academically performing, 2) if so, what are their realities in navigating the higher education system, and 3) were they able to resist the niggering forms on their campus (Harper, 2009). The critical race theory used in this approach to education research is storytelling or telling stories of people who are overlooked in research to counter the master narrative about them. Within the stories, Harper uses composite characters to represent the sample used who reject the assumptions held of them in regards to academic achievement and student leadership (2009). The participants of the study gave their input through a panel discussion at a conference they attended in 2008. The overall themes that were generated were: 1) there is an overlooked population who are student leaders that are academically thriving, 2) these students naviagate higher education by experience racism and success causing them to develop strategies to counter the hostile environments, and 3) they resist being niggered on campuses by being the positive role model on and off campus (Harper, 2009).

The implications of this study are vast and can be applied to any predominantly white college. However, it would be interesting to apply to a historically black college or university. If this study were to be replicated on a H.B.C.U. would it have the same effect? Can H.B.C.U’s claim that they have enough programs and policies for black males? Are their institutional and structural barriers to achievement for black males? Is the black consciousness really awoken in black males at predominantly black colleges? Here are just a few questions that could be posed if the study were to be replicated at an HBCU. 

Reference:  Harper, S. R. (2009). Niggers no more: A critical race counternarrative on Black male student achievement at predominantly white colleges and universities. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(6), 697-712.