African-American adolescents define 'acting Black': Exploring the complexity of race meaning and students' achievement attitudes

Race meaning shapes individuals' lived experiences psychologically. African-American adolescents' beliefs about race-acting are varied and complex because in modern society, master narratives of race tell the story that "acting White" means exhibiting positive achievement attitudes, implying that "acting Black" means something contradictory. There is a "widely held societal stereotype that 'Black' and 'smart' are mutually exclusive" (Fordham, 1996, p. 252). And yet, African-American students' cultural values reflect a complex configuration of Psychosocial Integrity, beliefs about the importance of hard work and education, and simultaneous negotiation of mainstream, minority, and Afro-cultural race-acting interpretive repertoires. As part of a larger longitudinal study conducted at an urban public charter middle school, this study uses the Race Self Complexity theoretical framework and employs a mixed-method research design to explore race meaning and achievement attitudes. Thematic analysis revealed a diversity of race-acting meaning, including themes of Academic Intelligence for "acting Black." An analysis of variance revealed that students with positive beliefs about what "acting Black" means have positive achievement attitudes.