If you’re a black, female student on an nearly all-white campus these days, race is everything. That’s why many young African American women join black sororities, so they can have support.
The challenge of being black in a predominantly white school has meant young female students encountering racism frequently, according to a number of students who discussed the issue recently at Indiana State University. Rosiline Floyd, a doctor student, decided to research this because she was one of those who had experienced the problem herself.
Floyd said about the problem while doing the research, “I came back to myself. I’m from teenage parents, from an inner-city school, I did not get the best education. I said what kept me in school? It was the relationships I developed with the sorority.” Her advisor is pleased she researched the subject because too often the negative aspects of fraternities and sororities are emphasized in literature on campus as opposed to the positive impact these groups can have on young women who want to finish college.
To complete the doctoral research on the subject of black sororities and their giving social support to young women, Floyd interviewed members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho sororities at Indiana State, Indiana University and Purdue University. She found that racism had impacted the lives of the women on campus, that it overwhelms everything because oftentimes they were the only black student in classes and were ignored unless the topic was race. They found solace among their sorority sisters.
“What it did for me is the same thing that my findings show is that there is someone to talk to who understands your struggles,” Floyd declared upon completing her research.
Some of the issues of estrangement when social support is lacking may be part of the reason for the high attrition among black college students, as has been related by those interested in the issue of race and the problems surrounding it on college campuses. This unique research may also support the involvement of young, female black students in sororities in order to help them get through school.
Because career models are based on race, the research also suggests that the social support is part of the picture vocationally in terms of determining a goal, as has been determined in prior research. The study reveals learning that race continues to matter in college, as demonstrated by the present information, gives foundation for proper planning to accommodate the issues.
Sources
Newswise
www.newswise.com/articles/view/552039/
Race Impacts Everything: Ph. D. Studies Impact of Black Sororities
In Pursuit of Equality in Higher Education
books.google.com/books
Racial differences in college student achievement
Entrepreneur
www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/114975312_2.html
The relationship between race and students identified career models and perceived role model influence
