Mentor/s
Dr. Colleen Butler-Sweet
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
It has been over a century since W.E.B. DuBois described the double consciousness experienced by African Americans who are forced to measure their souls “by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (DuBois, 1903). More than one hundred years later, Black Americans continue to face the negative scripts of racism that devalue their humanity, all the while facing the risk of internalizing the presumption of their racial inferiority. Based on ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews with young Black adults between the ages of 18 and 21, this study focuses on the internalization of racism and how its impact on identity construction for young Black adults. Findings indicate that the young Black participants in this study did internalize racist scripts in early childhood, but were more adept at resisting negative racial messages in early adulthood. Parenting strategies could have contributed to the internalization of negative cultural scripts given that each respondent reported that their parents did little to shield them from internalizing presumptions of their racial inferiority. Instead, college served as a time when participants were able to develop and redefine their sense of worth and belonging into a more positive racial identity.
College and Major available
Sociology
Location
University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-20-2018 1:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-20-2018 3:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Prize Categories
Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Most Creative, Most Meaningful
Negative Scripts, Racism, and Its Effects on Black Identity Construction
University Commons
It has been over a century since W.E.B. DuBois described the double consciousness experienced by African Americans who are forced to measure their souls “by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (DuBois, 1903). More than one hundred years later, Black Americans continue to face the negative scripts of racism that devalue their humanity, all the while facing the risk of internalizing the presumption of their racial inferiority. Based on ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews with young Black adults between the ages of 18 and 21, this study focuses on the internalization of racism and how its impact on identity construction for young Black adults. Findings indicate that the young Black participants in this study did internalize racist scripts in early childhood, but were more adept at resisting negative racial messages in early adulthood. Parenting strategies could have contributed to the internalization of negative cultural scripts given that each respondent reported that their parents did little to shield them from internalizing presumptions of their racial inferiority. Instead, college served as a time when participants were able to develop and redefine their sense of worth and belonging into a more positive racial identity.
