Introduction

The census data suggest that the Black population in the United States is growing (1990 census). Current reports also suggest that this is the best time to be Black in America. Fewer Black families are recipients of AFDC, and the percentage of Black families living below the poverty line is the lowest it has been since 1967, when the Census Bureau began keeping separate Black poverty statistics. There is no denying that this data indicate that life for the educated, upwardly mobile African American has changed dramatically on all fronts—social, economic, educational, and political. The racial factor continues to plague Black progress, whether it takes the form of states that have eliminated affirmative action, resulting in a sizable decrease in the admission of students of color to college, or states that have adopted high school exit exams as a requirement for graduation.