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“A STEADY DROP WILL WEAR A HOLE IN THE ROCK”: FEMINISM, THE
JOHN HENRY MYTH AND THE BLACK MALE EXPERIENCE IN HIGHER
EDUCATION: A PERSISTENCE CASE STUDY
by
Nikki Michelle Riley
____________________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2007
Copyright 2007 Nikki Michelle Riley
Object Description
| Title | "A steady drop will wear a hole in the rock": feminism, the John Henry myth, and the black male experience in higher education |
| Author | Riley, Nikki Michelle |
| Author email | nikkiril@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Education |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Education (Leadership) |
| School | Rossier School of Education |
| Date defended/completed | 2007-08-09 |
| Date submitted | 2007 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2007-09-25 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Sundt, Melora A. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Jun, Alexander Fisher, Jackie S., Sr. |
| Abstract | The democratic and inclusive community college system has served as an important conduit for the post-secondary educational experiences of Black men. It has been suggested that the diversity of the community college student population creates a campus climate that facilitates African American male academic success. This study focuses on the academic and social integration experiences of fourteen African American male community college students who persisted towards graduation or transfer from a Southern California community college. Prior studies have focused on the persistence of African American students at large, often public universities. These studies tend to discuss African American male college students from a deficit perspective when comparing them to Black female or White college students. Further, African American men are collectively viewed as homogenous, static beings. Few studies have explored the potentially endogenous or emic perspectives of collegiate faculty, relative to the academic experiences of African American men. This study attempted to fill a gap in the literature by focusing on the academic and social integration experiences of African American men enrolled in a Southern California community college. The results of this study are discussed within the context of the Black feminist perspective of the researcher.; The purpose of this study was as follows: (1) to describe the influence of life experiences on the academic and social integration of African American male students who persisted at this Southern California community college; (2) to describe what administrators, faculty, staff, counselors and coaches said this college did to contribute to the persistence of these men; and (3) to compare administrator and student perceptions of the factors that influence the academic and social integration of African American men in the community college setting.; A qualitative methodology guided this ethnographic case study. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were the primary data source. This approach enabled readers to experience and understand, through detailed descriptive data, what the academic and social integration experience was like for African American men at a Southern California community college. Phenomenological inquiry, grounded in traditional student attrition models and Critical Race Theory, directed the data analysis. This methodological approach enabled the researcher to explore the life experiences of the participants along with their interpretive world view.; The completed analysis produced multiple thematic patterns. Parallel to the existing literature, most of the study participants were not socially involved or integrated with the respective college campus site. Faculty interaction and campus climate were the most significant persistence factors for the students interviewed in this study. Family support, personal maturation, and the deconstruction of mediaderived, negative, stereotypes of African American men were also significant. A large majority of the study participants were either in the process of pursuing theathletic/entertainment career dream, or had done so in the past. Additionally, at least half of the study participants were former or active duty military personnel.; Many other themes related to the life narratives and the academic persistence of the study participants were described as complements to the study's significant findings. Data from administrators, faculty, counselors, staff and coaches was compared to student interviews. The culmination of analysis resulted in suggestions for institutional policy and practice, especially as related to the college's student equity and learning outcome agenda. |
| Keyword | African American men; college; athletes |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m830 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Riley, Nikki Michelle |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Riley-20070925 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume14/etd-Riley-20070925.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | “A STEADY DROP WILL WEAR A HOLE IN THE ROCK”: FEMINISM, THE JOHN HENRY MYTH AND THE BLACK MALE EXPERIENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A PERSISTENCE CASE STUDY by Nikki Michelle Riley ____________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION December 2007 Copyright 2007 Nikki Michelle Riley |
