Racial Gap

The study authors argue that "there is no justification needed [to explain present-day racial health disparities] beyond the key role of structural racism experienced directly by African Americans today."

A new study has found Black children get less sleep and experience greater variability in their sleep routines compared to children from other racial groups. As sleep is an essential component of pediatric health, the authors believe their findings suggest pediatric clinicians should inquire about sleep habits when working with children from diverse racial backgrounds.

The study authors write, "Addressing the social determinants of health factors unique to Black women will not only increase mammography screening and improve breast cancer outcomes for this population but may lessen the economic burden that disparate health outcomes create."

While Black Americans represent nearly 14 percent of the total U.S. population, they represent just 5.5 percent of all top staff positions in the personal offices of U.S. House members and senators.

Only 25 films out of the top 100 highest-earning movies in 2024 featured a nonwhite lead or co-lead actor. These 25 films feature a combined 26 protagonists, 10 of whom are Black.

In an examination of six different kinds of school discipline and punishment, three comparison groups, and 16 subpopulations, a new study has found that "no matter how you slice it, Black students are overrepresented among those punished and excluded."

"To achieve a workforce that reflects the diversity of the U.S. population, academic medicine must transform its culture and the practices that surround faculty appointments and promotions," write the study authors, who found White male medical professors are more likely than their peers from nearly every other racial or gender group to receive a promotion.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2022 less than 195,000 of the 5.9 million employer firms in the United States in 2022 were owned by Black Americans.

A team of scholars led by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta has found Black athletes are five times as likely as White athletes to experience a heart attack or die from sudden cardiac complications.

According to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the percentage of students who began college in the fall of 2018 and earned a credential within six years rose to 61.1 percent. For Black students who enrolled in 2018, 43.8 percent had earned a degree or other credential within six years. This is more than 17 percentage points below the overall rate. And the racial gap has increased in recent years.

A new study from scholars at Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Alabama, has found racial achievement gaps grow more quickly in districts where Black and Hispanic students attend higher-poverty schools than their White peers.

The National Bureau of Economic Research has examined the long-term effects on educational attainment and economic outcomes for Black and Hispanic students in Texas, California, Washington, and Florida - the first four states to ban affirmative action in higher education admissions decisions.

Over the past two decades, 50 percent of Black and 40 percent of Hispanic student loan borrowers have experienced a loan default, compared to 29 percent of their White counterparts.

This academic year, only 19 Black students enrolled in Harvard Law's first-year class. This is the lowest number of Black first-year law students at Harvard since 1965.

A new study has found that while diversity has grown among America's college-educated adults , diversity in the country's teacher workforce is lagging behind.

Scholars from Cornell University have found removing race data from AI applicant-ranking algorithms results in a less diverse applicant pool without meaningfully increasing the group's academic merit.

Among highly selective institutions, Black first-year student enrollment dropped by a staggering 16.9 percent this year, the sharpest drop of any major racial group. This was the first admissions cycle since the Supreme Court ended the use of race-sensitive admissions at colleges and universities.

According to a new study led by Saint Louis University, Black patients with heart failure are 15 percent less likely to receive palliative care than their White counterparts.

Despite the official abolition of redlining in 1968, its legacy continues to harm communities of color to this day. A new study has found an association between living in these neighborhoods and delays in HIV treatment.

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.