James Weldon Johnson Lectures Series- Dr. Jonathan Cox presents "Black on Both Sides: Black Racial Identities and Perceptions Between Black Students at Historically Black and Predominantly White Institutions"

Each semester, the Africana Studies Program presents a series of lectures covering a variety of topics relevant to Africana studies.

Dr. Jonathan Cox, assistant professor in the department of sociology at the University of Central Florida, will present "Black on Both Sides: Black Racial Identities and Perceptions Between Black Students at Historically Black and Predominantly White Institutions".

Relatively few scholars of black identity have intentionally explored and theorized black identities—the plurality of identities within the black race—unintentionally perpetuating pervasive scripts for black monolithisicm. Additionally, most scholarly work on black racial identity focuses on theoretical understanding; as a result, the ways in which blackness operates remains largely unclear. As research more intentionally expands to consider blackness in different contexts, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominantly white institutions (PWIs) provide unique locations for exploring differences in black racial identities across social context. During this lecture, Dr. Cox will highlight results from a study investigating how the differing social contexts of HBCUs and PWIs impact black students’ racial identities, and their subsequent perceptions of one another across institution.