ABSTRACT
This chapter explores five components that were critical in the process of individuals demonstrating positive academic achievement through college attendance. Trust was essential to overcoming perceived and real structural inequalities. Seeking academic and social assistance from peers and adults was constructive in contributing to increased positive academic achievement. Cultural capital and exposure to an expansive array of experiences can help minimize the negative effects of poverty if done purposefully and reflectively. Family, peers and individual agency were critical in sustaining persistence throughout the identity development, which resulted in the demonstration of resilience, and understanding and nurturing the social-emotional, racial and gender identity of young Black men was an essential component to positive academic and social achievement. Du Bois developed students' agency, which potentially helped assist them in their likelihood of college graduation by teaching them that professors were accessible people who cared about the social-emotional development and academic growth of their students.
