ABSTRACT
The conversations with black alumni from Howard and Northwestern universities have allowed us a window onto their experiences as students. Our examination of these memories reveals that experiences shared by black college students result less from the particularities of individual personality than from institutional dynamics and societal expectations. Of course, such dynamics and expectations affect the experiences of students of other racial backgrounds as well. Similar research on the experiences of different groups of students will be welcome to the literature of higher education and the social construction of race. In this chapter, I discuss the implications that Acting Black has for educational policy, public policy, and the practice of sociology.
