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Acting Black: College, Identity and the Performance of Race
Contributor(s): Willie, Sarah Susannah (Author)
ISBN: 0415944090     ISBN-13: 9780415944090
Publisher: Routledge
OUR PRICE:   $228.00  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: January 2003
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Annotation: In the optimism of the post-Civil Rights era, affirmative action was still novel and not yet facing the attacks of the present. Against this historical backdrop, Sarah Willie asked the question: How different was it to be Black at a historically Black university versus a traditionally White one? "Acting Black" contains interviews with nearly sixty African-American men and women who either attended Northwestern University, a predominantly White school, or Howard University, a predominantly Black school. In this poignant and perceptive book, Willie reveals the intransigence of racism, the power of friendship, the difference of class inequality and the need for an identity that is stable and flexible.
In "Acting Black," Willie situates the personal stories of her own experience and those of her interviewees within a review of university policies regarding race. She offers suggestions for improvement for both White and Black universities seeking to make their campuses truly multicultural. In the tradition of "The Agony of Education," Willie captures the painful dilemmas and ugly realities African Americans face on campus.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Education | Higher
- Social Science | Minority Studies
- Social Science | Discrimination & Race Relations
Dewey: 378.198
LCCN: 2002012974
Lexile Measure: 1360
Physical Information: 0.79" H x 5.96" W x 9.26" (1.19 lbs) 224 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Sarah Willie asks: What's it like to be black on campus. For most Black students, attending predominantly white universities, it is a struggle. Do you try to blend in? Do you take a stand? Do you end up acting as the token representative for your whole race? And what about those students who attend predominantly black universities? How do their experiences differ?
In Acting Black, Sarah Willie interviews 55 African American alumnae of two universities, comparable except that one is predominantly white, Northwestern, and one is predominantly black, Howard. What she discovers through their stories, mirrored in her own college experience, is that the college campus is in some cases the stage for an even more intense version of the racial issues played out beyond its walls. The interviewees talk about acting white in some situations and acting black in others. They treat race as many different things, including a set of behaviours that they can choose to act out.
In Acting Black, Willie situates the personal stories of her own experience and those of her interviewees within a timeline of black education in America and a review of university policy, with suggestions for improvement for both black and white universities seeking to make their campuses truly multicultural. In the tradition of The Agony of Education (Routledge, 1996), Willie captures the painful dilemmas and ugly realities African Americans must face on campus.