Immigrant blacks are overrepresented in certain colleges, studies say | Interactive graphic

According to a new study, black students who are either first- or second-generation American are overrepresented at selective colleges and universities, compared with those whose families have resided in the United States longer.

This overrepresentation may stem from stereotypes - such as that immigrant blacks are smarter or work harder.

"There's a general sense in terms of pop culture that immigrant students from the West Indies and the African continent do succeed more academically than their African American counterparts," said College sophomore Ryan Jobson, facilitating and planning chairman for UMOJA, the umbrella organization for black student groups.

Conducted by sociology professors Pamela Bennett of Johns Hopkins University and Amy Lutz of Syracuse University, the study was similar in content to one published in 2007, co-authored by Penn Sociology professor Camille Charles and Douglas Massey, Margarita Mooney and Kimberly Torres of Princeton University.

Charles' study focused on the population of black students enrolled at 28 colleges and universities in the U.S. The more recent study looked at all high school graduates - immigrant black, native black and white students alike - to see where they attend college. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988.

The former study also distinguished between immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, as well as between different generations.

Bennett and Lutz's research found that immigrant blacks make up the largest demographic proportionally of students who enrolled in college upon high school graduation. 75.1 percent of immigrant black high-school graduates attend college, compared to 72.5 percent of whites and 60.2 percent of native blacks.

While enrollment of immigrant rather than native black students is similar for two-year and nonselective, not historically black four-year colleges, the biggest gap for the two groups is found in selective colleges, which enroll a proportional majority of immigrant black students.

These findings are comparable with those of Charles' 2007 study, which concluded that immigrant black students comprise 27 percent of black students at the selective colleges studied, but only 13 percent of black people aged 18 and 19 in the U.S.

Both studies propose that the successes of black immigrant students may be attributable to their fathers' education. The 2007 study found that 70 percent of immigrants' fathers graduated from college and 43.6 percent had advanced degrees, compared to 55.2 percent and 25.3 percent, respectively for native blacks.

Each study also says immigrant blacks are more likely to have grown up in two-parent households and attended private schools.

Of the statistics regarding admissions, Charles said admissions officers may be subconsciously, though not maliciously, buying into stereotypes.

Karlene Burrell-McRae, director of Makuu, Penn's black cultural center, agreed.

Schools, teachers and counselors "tend to nurture those students in ways that may not occur with native black students," Burrell-McRae said.

Because immigrant blacks are self-selected, dedicated and ambitious enough to move from their native countries to the U.S., "when we compare immigrant blacks to native blacks, it's really apples to oranges," said Charles.

Charles added that, to increase diversity at Penn and make the black student population representative of the larger black population of that age group, admissions officers must be more conscious of variances within the black community.

Blacks aren't "a monolithic group," she said. "We can't expect a one-size-fits-all strategy."

The interactive graphic on this article has been updated to reflect the correct value for the percent of white students attending historically black colleges.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.