New Study Finds a Huge Racial Wealth Gap for Families With Children
A new study finds that the historical 10-to-1 racial wealth gap is even larger for families with children, the families that eventually will have to pay for college. In 2016, the new study found that Black households with children had only one penny of wealth for every dollar held by their White counterparts.
Increasing Access and Retention for STEM Scholars From Underrepresented Groups
A new report from the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities examines best practices for increasing access to, retention in, and progress to the professoriate for STEM faculty aspirants from underrepresented groups.
Grant Proposals Made by Black Researchers to the NIH Receive Lower Initial Evaluations From...
Previous research has found that only 16 percent of applications for National Institutes of Health grants by Black researchers are approved compared to 29 percent of projects led by White scholars. The current study led by researchers at the University of Washington explains the racial gap.
Some Progress Is Being Made in Racial Diversity in College Sports Administration
The Racial and Ethnic Report Card for College Sport gave a grade of B for racial diversity in college sports programs. This was up from a C+ two years ago. For the first time in history, two African Americans were named commissioners of major athletic conferences.
STEM Career Aspirations of Black Adolescents Trail Those of Young Whites
Some 18 percent of White teens planned to pursue a career in STEM fields. Only 12 percent of young African Americans believed they would go on to a career in STEM fields. But a slightly higher percentage of Black youth said they aspired to a career in health care than was the case for White teenagers.
New Report Documents Decreasing College Opportunities for Low-Income Americans
A new report from the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education and the University of Pennsylvania’s Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy, shows how the pandemic will adversely affect the higher education opportunities of Americans from low-income families.
Do College Graduates Think Their Alma Maters Adequately Investigate Discrimination?
A new poll conducted by the Gallup organization found that only 19 percent of African American college graduates strongly agreed with the statement: "If I had raised an issue about discrimination on campus, I am confident my college or university would have fully investigated it."
New Survey Finds Racial Differences in Outlooks as a Result of the Pandemic
A new survey by Civis Analytics, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation finds that 43 percent of White parents of high school students report that their children's plans for higher education have changed due to the pandemic, compared to 59 percent of Black parents.
How the Racial Digital Divide Impacts Online Education During the Pandemic
A new Census survey finds that only 61.6 percent of Black households with children in K-12 education said they had the technology to allow children to do their online schoolwork at all times. For White households, nearly 73 percent had total access to the online education offered for their children.
Several Private HBCUs Have the Highest Average Student Loan Debt in the Nation
A new study by Student Loan Hero finds that students at historically Black colleges and universities tend to be among the students who accumulate the most debt. Four HBCUs were among the top 10 schools where parents take on the most PLUS loan debt, and eight were in the top 50.
NAACP Conducts Survey of African American Views on the COVID-19 Crisis
The NAACP, in partnership with the African American Research Collaborative and the Equity Research and Innovation Center at the Yale School of Medicine, conducted a survey on how African Americans are responding to the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
The Historically Black Collges and Universities Awarding the Most Bachelor’s Degrees
North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro awarded 1,662 bachelor's degrees, the most of any HBCU. This is not surprising since North Carolina A&T State University has the largest number of undergraduate students among HBCUs.
Stanford University Study Finds That “Driving While Black” Is Less Risky at Night
The results of the study of 95 million traffic stops between 2011 and 2018 showed that Blacks, who are pulled over more frequently than Whites by day, are much less likely to be stopped after sunset, when “a veil of darkness” masks their race.
Black Unemployment Surges But the Racial Gap Shrinks
In April, the unemployment specter hit both Blacks and Whites very hard. Unemployment rates rose to 16.7 percent for Blacks and 14.2 for non-Hispanic Whites. The traditional 2-to-1 Black-to-White unemployment ratio has disappeared. But the economic recovery in Black communities is likely to lag the rest of the nation.
A Snapshot of Enrollments at the Nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities
In the fall of 2018, there were 291,767 students enrolled at the nation's HBCUs. African Americans made up about 76.5 percent of the enrollments at HBCUs that year. This fall, undoubtedly many HBCUs will struggle to maintain enrollments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Study Examines How Racial Identity Affects Self-Esteem and Well-Being Among Young Black Males
Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Arizona surveyed a large group of young Black males to examine the effects of puberty on symptoms of depression, self-esteem, and self-efficacy.
Center for America Progress Report Shows Why Blacks Are Dying From the Coronavirus
The report shows that at least 28 percent of people of color between the ages of 18 and 64—more than 21 million people in total—have a medical condition that could put them at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
A Brief Intervention on Belonging for Blacks Entering College Can Have Lifetime Benefits
A new study led by Shannon Brady, an assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest University, has found that the benefits of a brief “social belonging” exercise completed by Black students in their first year of college produced positive results in career satisfaction and well-being a decade after leaving college.
Harvard Scholars Present Research on How Racism Affects Public Health
A group of scholars affiliated with the Project on Race & Gender in Science & Medicine at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University have produced a webinar series entitled “Epidemics and the Effects on the African American Community from 1792 to the Present.”
The Huge Racial Gap in Homeownership Rates in the United States
The racial gap in homeownership rates is huge. In the first quarter of 2020, 73.7 percent of non-Hispanic Whites owned their home. For African Americans, 44 percent owned their home. If history is a guide, the racial gap in homeownership may widen during the severe economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Race Is the Most Frequent Motivation for Hate Crimes on College Campuses
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that there were 860 hate crimes on college and university campuses that were reported to the police or campus security agencies in 2015. The actual number of hate crime incidents is probably much higher.
Morgan State University Investigates Baltimore Citizens’ Relationship to City Police
The survey found that participants consistently reported that the police department did not show respect toward civilians. And a majority of participants reported that they had observed police engaging in racial profiling, using excessive force, and using verbally abusive language toward civilians.
Study Finds a Significant Racial Disparity in Depression Among Older American Adults
Researchers surveyed more than 25,000 adults over the age of 50. They found that members of racial and ethnic minority groups were up to twice as likely to report more severe depressive symptoms than non-Hispanic White participants.
Study Finds That School Teachers Hold Racial Biases Similar to the General Population
In a series of tests, researchers evaluated the racial biases of a huge group of more than 1.5 million Americans. Among this large group were nearly 69,000 teachers. The results showed that teachers were only slightly less likely to show racial bias than the population as a whole.
Scholars Discover Alarming Data on Child Loss in Sub-Saharan African Nations
A new study by researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Chicago finds that two thirds of all mothers in sub-Saharan African nations lose a child by the time they are in their late 40s.
Education Department Report Offers Data on Black Teachers in U.S. K-12 Schools
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education looks at teachers in the nation's public and private K-12 schools. Some of the data is broken down by racial and ethnic group. The report documents that 80 percent of all teachers in K-12 schools in the United States are White. Only 6.3 percent are Black.
The Long-Term Impact of State Affirmative Action Bans on Black Enrollments in Higher Education
Averaging across 19 public universities in states that enacted affirmative action bans, Black enrollments declined immediately after the bans took effect and have expanded since that time.
Report Claims Conservative Cities Do a Better Job in Educating Children From Racial and...
The study analyzed data from 12 conservative cities and compared it to the data from 12 liberal cities. The data showed that the progressive cities have, on average, a 15.1 point math achievement gap for Black students and a 13.5 percent reading achievement gap for Black students.
Data Shows Huge Racial Disparities in Impact of COVID-19 Virus
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but over 33 percent of the patients admitted to hospitals with the COVID-19 virus. In some cities Blacks are dying from the virus at rates double their percentage of the population.
Discrimination Incidents Against African Americans Spike During COVID-19 Pandemic
Researchers at the Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California found that that 14 percent of Asians and 10 percent of non-Hispanic Blacks had experienced discrimination or racist behavior during the pandemic, as opposed to 4 percent of non-Hispanic Whites.
Speech Recognition Systems Make Double the Mistakes on Words Spoken by Blacks
Research led by scholars at Stanford University found that on average, the speech recognition systems developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, and others misunderstood 35 percent of the words spoken by Blacks but only 19 percent of those spoken by Whites. Error rates were highest for African American men.
University Study Shows How the Slave Trade Has Lingering Effects on African Businesses
Businesses in countries that were active in the slave trade are more often tightly controlled by individuals or families — often because they have limited access to equity funding and shared ownership. Meanwhile, businesses in African countries less affected by the slave trade have more diversified ownership structures.
Racial Differences in the Gender Wage Gap
A new report from the Center for America Progress finds that White women earn 79 percent of what is earned by White men. But African American women earn only 62 cents to the dollar compared to the earnings of White men.
How Racism Impacts African Americans’ Decisions to Seek Self-Employment
Two sociologists at Rice University in Houston, Texas, found that working Black adults with “racial capital,” or high awareness of the systemic nature of racism, were seven times more likely to pursue self-employment than those with low awareness.
Academic Study Finds a Growing Racial Divide in Autism Disorders
While autism disorders in wealthy counties of California have decreased since 2000, the study found incidence among Blacks has increased rapidly across California, marking the highest rates among any ethnic or racial group.
Active Learning Improves Academic Performance of Black Students in Undergraduate STEM Courses
The study found that the achievement gap between overrepresented and underrepresented students - in courses where active learning techniques were used - narrowed on exam scores by 33 percent and course passing rates by 45 percent.
