Research & Studies

In a year when many test dates were postponed or canceled due to the global pandemic and when many colleges and universities made standardized test scores optional, the persistent racial gap in scores on the ACT college entrance examination grew wider. Whites were more than five times as likely as Blacks to be prepared for college-level work in all four areas of English, math, science, and reading.

In the fall of 2020, 53,754 African Americans enrolled in graduate school for the first time. African Americans made up 12.3 percent of all first-time graduate enrollees from the United States in 2020. Of these, 69.4 percent were women.

Beginning in the 1930s and 40s, the federal government delineated areas where mortgages could be insured. These redlining policies, which remained in effect until the 1960s, led to decades of community disinvestment, concentrated poverty in inner-city neighborhoods, and denied residents the ability to build intergenerational wealth through homeownership. Health impacts remain to this day.

A new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies finds that in the Black rural South, 25.8 percent of residents lack the option to subscribe to high-speed broadband compared to 8.8 percent of non-southern rural residents and 3.8 percent of all Americans. Even where broadband is available in the Black rural South, many find it unaffordable.

A new study by researchers at Yale University, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and Vanderbilt University finds that patients who identify as racial and ethnic minorities prefer medical providers who share and understand their culture, but those patients are not as likely as others to access providers who can provide such care.

Researchers examined investment account ownership across more than 80,000 households of differing racial and ethnic backgrounds over a six-year period. They found only about a quarter of African American adults owned a taxable investment account, and more than half owned no investments of any kind.

Of the more than 4.6 million students enrolled in private schools in the United States in 2019, 9.4 percent were Black or African American. Blacks made up a greater percentage of students in smaller private schools and in private schools in urban areas.

A new paper by researchers at Yale University finds racial disparities in the use of physical restraints on children who are admitted to the hospital emergency department. Black children are significantly more likely than White children to be subdued with restraints during visits to emergency rooms.

A new study by researchers at the University of Houston found a significant disparity in the quality and safety of food available in low- versus high-income communities. The results may explain - at least in part -  the high levels of gastrointestinal illness in predominantly Black urban neighborhoods.

In 2020, 17.4 percent of all Black families were living in poverty. The government defines the poverty rate for a four-person family - two adults and two children - as having an annual income of less than $26,646. For non-Hispanic White families, only 5.7 percent were living below the poverty threshold.

In one California school district, ninth graders with a grade-point average of 2.0 or under were automatically enrolled in an ethnic study course. The research showed that enrollment in ethnic studies substantially increased high school graduation, attendance, and the probability of enrolling in college.

Researchers from Columbia University and the University of Texas at Dallas gave a puzzle to a diverse group of participants. Each person was able to see how their peers solved the same puzzle and could choose whether to learn from them. They found that participants were 33 percent more likely to pay attention to and learn from White peers compared to Black ones.

In 2020, the median Black household income was 61.2 percent of the median income of non-Hispanic White families. This is an increase from 59.7 percent in 2019. However, with only minor fluctuations, the racial gap in median income has remained virtually unchanged for more than a half-century.

The study found no racial differences in concentric left ventricular hypertrophy among college football athletes that played on the offensive or defensive lines. But for skilled position players - quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs - a higher percentage of Black collegiate football players were more likely to develop concentric left ventricular hypertrophy than White football players.

There were 2,331,529 Black or African American students enrolled in higher education last fall. In the fall of 2019, there were 2,474,200 Black students enrolled. Thus, Black enrollments were down nearly 6 percent. This is four times the drop for students as a whole. In 2010, more than 3 million Black students were enrolled in higher education.

For students who graduated from college in the 2007-8 academic year, Whites, on average, were more likely than Blacks to hold full-time jobs and worked more hours per week a decade later. The average salary for Whites who had full-time jobs was $82,170. For African American college graduates who had full-time jobs, the average salary was $65,104.

Most colleges and universities were test-optional this past year due to the pandemic but some students still reported their scores. Only 31 percent of students from underrepresented minority groups reported test scores this past year, compared to 43 percent of all students who used the Common App.

There were 224 hate crimes in elementary or secondary schools that were reported to the FBI in 2020. There were only 116 reported hate crimes on college campuses. But remember that a large majority of college campuses were shut down for a good portion of the year due to the pandemic.

The Campaign for College Opportunity found improvements in degree completions for Black Californias at all levels of the state higher education system. But the data also shows there are major gaps between not only Blacks and Whites but also Black men and Black women.

Studies have shown that African American college students are less likely than their White peers to participate in binge drinking. But a new study has found that for those African American college students who are subjected to racial discrimination, they are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms and engage in problem alcohol consumption.