The African American Course Mystique

Abstract

One of the challenges in building an inclusive and engaged college campus is empowering students to leverage campus resources while creating an environment that afford academic success. It is common for colleges and universities to offer diverse courses such African American studies courses to enrich students' learning. Drawing from a larger study focused on the factors influencing the engagement of White students attending public HBCUs, this chapter presents select aspects of the experiences of 22 White students attending two public HBCUs who were required to enroll in an African American studies or African Diaspora course toward degree completion. Despite instances of hypervisibility, a term associated with racial spokesmanship roles or feeling as if one stands out due to characteristics, such as race (Peterson & Hamrick, 2009); students pointed to the positive impact of diverse interactions with peers; strong faculty interaction and difficult class discussions that challenged their critical thinking skills and identity development and growth.