A Guide to African and African-American Studies Resources

"In the 48th edition of the report, we’ve decided to reflect on a landmark piece of legislation that transformed everyday life in America and gave us a reason to create this report: the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

For Black America, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the first time that the United States government addressed the racial caste system that had been protected for centuries by unjust laws and systemic brutality of nonwhite people in this country. The law, in many ways, answered the calls for jobs and freedom in the March on Washington by banning discrimination in the workplace, in our housing system, and programs funded by the government, and marked the death of the Jim Crow South.

Sixty years later, the fight for equality is far from over..."

A report released on Feb. 17 by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) revealed that African American women have emerged as trailblazers in Black homebuying, collectively making significant strides in education, employment, and Entrepreneurship.

"The report is the second in a series of reports that will address egregious suspension rates across the county of Sacramento (which is home to 4 of the top 20 suspension districts in the State of California).
Among the most concerning findings are that Black boys in kindergarten through third grade are 10.4 times more likely to be suspended than their peers (statewide). The district is among the top three suspension districts in the state and serves as a public example of systemic failures, divisive politics, and pervasive educational inequities."

"As the nation struggles with police violence, a new report from HomeGrown StL in the Race and Opportunity Lab at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis recommends reforms to build an equitable, transparent and accountable public safety approach that will include lawsuit liability, a police misconduct database and federal funding mandates." WU Source, June 30, 2020

WU Brown School Research Report - “A high-quality education is critical to lifelong wellbeing. But such an education is far from guaranteed in the St. Louis region, and whether or not a child receives one can all too often be predicted by his or her race and other characteristics. Out-of-school suspension (OSS) is a serious form of school-based discipline that affects the quality of a child’s education. OSS is widely used inequitably, leading to “discipline gaps.” Black students, males, and students with disabilities are all more likely to receive an OSS . . .” [from the Executive Summary]

This report was prepared by the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University School of Law finds that Black St. Louisans are exposed to considerably greater environmental risks than white residents, contributing to stark racial disparities regarding health, economic, and quality of life burdens.
Among the report’s findings include:
Black children in the City of St. Louis are 2.4 times more likely than white children to test positive for lead in their blood and account for more than 70% of children suffering from lead poisoning.
Black children in St. Louis make roughly 10 times more emergency room visits for asthma each year than white children. Black children make more than 42 emergency room visits per 1,000 children, compared to less than 4 visits per 1,000 children for their white counterparts.
Mold complaints are more common in majority-black areas than elsewhere in the city.
Most of the city’s air pollution sources are located in neighborhoods of color, and more building demolitions — which create harmful dust that may contain asbestos and lead — occur in majority-black neighborhoods.
Black households in St. Louis are disproportionately affected by energy burdens (the percentage of income spent on utilities), far exceeding the citywide median.
Black residents of St. Louis are almost twice as likely to have limited access to healthy food as white residents because supermarkets in close proximity are so rare, and they are more likely to have limited access to a vehicle or adequate public transit to reach more distant grocery stores.
Majority-black neighborhoods experience most of the city’s illegal trash dumping.
More than 90% of the city’s exceptionally large inventory of vacant properties are located in majority-black neighborhoods.

A new (2019) report by the American Council on Education (ACE) details the persisting racial inequities across higher education. The full report is available on the ACE website at:
https://www.equityinhighered.org

A new (2018) study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis finds disparities between African-Americans and Caucasians in a key biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease – suggesting that tools to diagnose the disease in Caucasian populations may not work as well in African-Americans.

"Underrepresented Students in US Study Abroad: Investigating Impacts synthesizes existing research on the association of study abroad with positive academic outcomes for minority and other underrepresented students, with the goal of ultimately helping enhance pathways of access to study abroad for all students."

"The report, First-generation Student Success: A Landscape Analysis of Programs and Services at Four year Institutions, ... details how institutions are serving first-generation students, the challenges institutions encounter in providing support, and how first generation students perceive their institutional experience."

New National Survey Also Finds Presidents Engaged in Short- and Long-Term Planning to Address Systemic Racism in Higher Education
Aug 3, 2020
Washington, DC—August 3, 2020—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) today released “Responding to the Ongoing COVID-19 Crisis and to Calls for Racial Justice: A Survey of College and University Presidents,” a new report on how college and university presidents are currently planning to address both the financial fallout from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the campus implications of the national protest movement for racial justice. The report presents findings from a national survey of members of the AAC&U Presidents’ Trust, a broad and diverse network of higher education leaders representing four-year public and private institutions and two-year community colleges, that was conducted between June 25 and July 12, 2020, in partnership with ABC Insights.

A task force formed by The Steve Fund — a nonprofit focused on the mental health of youth of color — recently released a report that advises colleges and employers on how best to help students of color with mental health issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a struggling economy and ongoing racial strife.