Research & Studies

New Study Shows a Persistent Racial Gap in Funding of National Science Foundation Grants

Overall, the study examines more than 1 million proposals reviewed by the National Science Foundation from 1996 to 2019. Proposals by White applicants were consistently funded by several percentage points above the national rate, and the disparity increased steadily through the years in the analysis. In 2013 and 2014, research proposals by White applicants were funded at 1.7 and 1.8 times the rate of those by Black applicants.

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted the Racial Gap in Unemployment

In 2020, when the pandemic struck, 19.4 percent of the Black civilian workforce (those who were employed or seeking work) experienced unemployment at some point during the year. More than 4.2 million Black workers were unemployed at some point during the year.

University of Delaware Research Examines Impact of Highway Construction on Black Neighborhoods

In 1957, the Wilmington city council voted to bring Interstate 95 right through the Adams-Jackson corridor in the downtown area. In all, 507 residential dwellings, 50 commercial structures, 48 garages, two churches, one public school, one private school and one theater were demolished — and 926 families displaced — to make way for the highway.

The Education Trust Issues a New Report on Faculty Diversity

Researchers compared the Black percentage of the student body to the Black percentage of faculty at a large number of state-operated universities. They found that only 13.4 percent of these educational institutions had a Black-faculty-to-Black-student ratio of 90 percent or more. More than 70 percent of these institutions had a Black-faculty-to-Black-student ratio of below 70 percent.

Sub-Saharan African Nations Sending the Most Scholars to Teach at U.S. Colleges and Universities

In the 2020-21 academic year, there were 1,483 scholars from sub-Saharan African nations teaching at U.S. colleges and universities. Due to the pandemic, this was down more than 24 percent from the previous academic year. Foreign scholars from sub-Saharan Africa made up only 1.7 percent of all foreign scholars teaching in the U.S. in the 2020-21 academic year.

Study Led by Emory University Scholar Documents Alarming Racial Gap in Firearm-Related Homicides

Most alarming is that rates of fatalities by homicide amongst Black non-Hispanic men (141.8 fatalities/100,000 persons) significantly outpaced rates of fatalities among White non-Hispanic men (6.3 fatalities/100,000). Among Black non-Hispanic females, the rate of fatalities by firearm-related homicide has more than tripled since 2010.

Blacks Student Athletes Have Made Gains in Graduation Rates, But a Racial Gap Persists

In 1991, only 33 percent of Black male student athletes on scholarship at NCAA Division I institutions earned their diplomas within six years. Today, the graduation rate for Black male student athletes is 55 percent. For Black women student athletes on scholarship at these schools, the graduation rate was 45 percent in 1991. Today, it is 67 percent

Black Student Athletes Have Made Gains in Graduation Rates, But a Racial Gap Persists

In 1991, only 33 percent of Black male student athletes on scholarship at NCAA Division I institutions earned their diplomas within six years. Today, the graduation rate for Black male student athletes is 55 percent. For Black women student athletes on scholarship at these schools, the graduation rate was 45 percent in 1991. Today, it is 67 percent.

Students From Sub-Saharan African Nations at U.S. Colleges and Universities, 2021-22

During the 2021-22 academic year there were 42,518 students from sub-Saharan Africa enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States. They made up 4.5 percent of all foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities that year. This was the highest number of students from sub-Saharan Africa in history.

Study Finds That After 40 Years the Stillbirth Rate for Blacks Remains Double the Rate for Whites

A new study led by Cande Ananth, chief of epidemiology and biostatistics in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, finds that the decades-long effort to lower the stillbirth rate in the United States has stalled, as has progress in closing a persistent gap in stillbirths experienced by Black women compared with White women.

The Racial Graduation Rate Gap Between All Students and Student Athletes

For White students who entered college between 2012 and 2015 on an athletic scholarship, 73 percent earned their degree from the same institution within six years. For Black student athletes in the same period, 59 percent earned their degree within six years at the same school. This gap is significantly less than the racial gap for students as a whole.

Study Finds Foods Companies Increasingly Marketing Unhealthy Products to Blacks

American food and beverage companies disproportionately target Black and Hispanic consumers with advertising for high-calorie, low-nutrient products, including candy, sugary drinks, and snacks, according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health at the University of Connecticut.

The Large Racial Gap in Educational Attainment Rates, Particularly for Men

In 2021, 28.7 percent of African Americans over the age of 25 had obtained at least a bachelor's degree. For Whites, the figure was 41.9 percent. White men were nearly twice as likely as Black men to hold an advanced degree.

The Significant Racial Gap in Marriage Rates in the United States

In 2021, nearly 54 percent of the White population over the age of 15 was married compared to 31.2 percent of the Black population. Only 27.5 percent of the White population had never been married compared to half of the Black population.

African Americans Are Overrepresented in Law Enforcement’s Crime Posts on Social Media

Researchers at the law schools of Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago examined close to 100,000 crime-related posts from 14,000 Facebook pages maintained by U.S. law enforcement agencies between 2010 and 2019. They found that these posts overrepresented Black suspects by 25 percentage points relative to local arrest rates.

Don’t Blame History for Black Americans’ Mistrust of the Healthcare System

New research by psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles shows that vaccine hesitancy and mistrust of medical professionals among Black Americans may hinge more on their current unsatisfactory healthcare experiences than on their knowledge of past wrongs.

Racial Differences in the Age of Doctoral Degree Recipients in the United States

On average, Whites who earned doctorates in 2021 were 31.4 years old when they received their doctoral degrees. For African Americans, the average age was 36.6. Some 24.7 percent of all Blacks who earned doctorates in 2021 were over the age of 45. For Whites earning doctorates in 2021, only 8.7 percent were over the age of 45.

How Whites Continue to Hold Major Advantages in College President Searches

A new report prepared by Bensimons & Associates for the California Futures Foundation finds that whiteness "is embedded at every stage of presidential search and selection processes. The racial-ethnic and gender makeup of the presidents of California's public colleges and universities are much the same as in the 1970s: almost exclusively white and male."

Study Finds a Huge Advantage in Appraisal Values for Homes in White Neighborhoods

A new study from sociologists at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis finds that homes today in White neighborhoods are appraised at double the value of comparable homes in communities of color. This represents a 75 percent increase in neighborhood racial inequality in home values over the last decade.

Vast Racial Differences in the Financing of Doctoral Education

Only 19.4 percent of all African Americans who earned doctorates in 2021 had no education-related debt when they earned their terminal degree. For Whites, 51.7 percent had no education-related debt. The median education debt for Whites was $45,000. African Americans who earned doctorates in 2021, had an average student debt of $110,000.

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