Abstract
Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have described fear of “acting white” as a significant factor that influenced the attitudes and often undermined the achievement of African-American students at “Capital High” in Washington, D.C. The present qualitative study investigated 38 relatively high-achieving African-American and Mexican-American students in various high schools, public and private, in a midwestern city. The respondents did not report avoiding academic achievement in order to avoid accusations of acting white. Most of the students we interviewed reported no loss of ethnic identity. The students felt strong resentment toward their peers' accusations of acting white and did not seem to be intimidated by the accusations, though they were bothered by the accusations. It would be useful if future research addressed the conditions under which avoidance of acting white is most likely to occur.
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Bergin, D.A., Cooks, H.C. High School Students of Color Talk About Accusations of “Acting White”. The Urban Review 34, 113–134 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015310332639
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015310332639