Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Collective Identity and the Burden of “Acting White” in Black History, Community, and Education

  • Published:
The Urban Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

After more than 15 years of comparative study of minority education, I concluded that I would have to study two additional factors, namely collective identity and cultural frame of reference to more fully explain the variability in minority school performance. In 1986, I published an article with Signithia Fordham on how “oppositional collective identity and cultural frame of reference” or oppositional culture contributed to Black students' school performance. Many critics have misinterpreted the joint article and even constructed a different thesis of oppositional culture than the one we proposed in the joint article. The thesis is that Black students do not aspire to or strive to get good grades because it is perceived as “acting White.” Furthermore, they have translated my cultural–ecological theory into an oppositional culture theory. I am writing this paper to correct the misinterpretations of the joint article in order to advance scholarship on the subject. I begin by explaining the meaning of collective identity and distinguishing it from other concepts of identity. Specifically, I summarize the evolution of oppositional collective identity and cultural frame of reference or oppositional culture among Black Americans and discuss the Black experience with the “burden of ‘acting White’” in the contemporary United States. Finally, I suggest some continuity between Black historical and community experiences with the “burden of ‘acting White,’” as experienced by Black students.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdul-Jabbar, K., and Knobles, P.(1983).Giant Steps:The Autobiography of Kareem Abdul Jabbar.New York: Bantam Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ainsworth-Darnell, J.W., and Downey, D.B.(1998).Assessing the oppositional culture explanation for racial/ethnic di.erences in school performance.American Sociological Review 63:536–553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alba, R.(1990).Ethnic Identity:The Transformation of White Americans.New Haven, CN: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baer, H.A.(1984).The Black Spiritual Movement:A Religious Response to Racism.Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, H.A.Jr.(1987).Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becknell, C.F.(1987).Blacks in the Work-force:A Black Manager 's Perspective.Albuquerque, NM: Horizon Communications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin, L.(1991).The Black Elite:Facing the Color Line in the Twilight of the Twentieth Century.Chicago, IL: Nelson Hail.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, L.Jr.(1996).10 Most dramatic events in African-American history.In J.A. Krom-kowski (Ed.), Race and Ethnic Relations:Annual Edition (pp.31–32).Sluice Dock, Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergin, D.A.and Cooks, H.C.(2002).High school students of color talk about accusations of ''acting white.The Urban Review 34(2):113–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, M.F.(1971).Black Resistance/White Law:A History of Constitutional Racism in America.New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bethel, E.R.(1997).The Roots of African American Identity:Memory and History in the Antebellum Free Communities.New York: St.Martin 's.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogle, D.(1989).Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks:An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films.New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boykin, A.W.(1986).The Triple Quandary and the Schooling of Afro-American Children.In U. Neisser (Ed.).The School Achievement of Minority Children:New Perspectives.(pp.57–92).Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branch, C.W.(1999).Race and human development.In R.H. Sheets and E.R. Hollins (Eds.), Racial and Ethnic Identity in School Practices:Aspects of Human Development (pp.7–28).Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkey, R.M.(1971).Racial Discrimination and Public Policy in the United States.Cambridge, MA: D.C.Heath.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, F.(1982).Black executive and corporate stress.The New York Times Magazine 12:1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, P.(1999).Balancing 'Acts ':Issues of Identity and Cultural Resistance in the Social and Educational Behaviors of Minority Youth.Ph.D.Dissertation, Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, R.I.and Goodwin, A.L.(1994).Racial identity and education.In L. Darling-Ham-mond (Ed.), Review of Research in Education (pp.291–336).Washington, D.C: American Educational Research Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castile, G.P.and Kushner, G.(1981).Persistent Peoples:Cultural Enclaves in Perspective. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CBS Television Network (1984).The Rosewood massacre.60 Minutes XV1 (47):16–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cone, J.H.(1972).The Spirituals and the Blues.San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Case, E.(1995).The Rage of the Privileged Class:Why are Middle-class Blacks Angry?Why Should America Care?New York: Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, P.J. and Ludwig, J.(1997).Weighing the ''burden of acting white:''Are there di.erences in attitudes towards education.Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 16(2):256–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornell, S.E.and Hartman, D.(1998).Ethnicity and Race:Making Identities in a Changing World.Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross, W.E.Jr.(1991).Shades of Black:Diversity in African American Identity.Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross, W.E., Strauss, L.and Fhagen-Smith, P.(1999).African American identity development across the life span:educational implications.In R.H. Sheets and E.R. Hollins (Eds.), Racial and Ethnic Identity in School Practices:Aspects of Human Development (pp.29–47).Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daiby, D.(1972).The African element in American English.In T.Kochman (Ed.), Rappin 'and 'Stylin 'Out:Communication in Urban Black America (pp.170–188).Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, G.and Watson, C.(1985).Black Life in Corporate America:Swimming in the Main-stream.Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVos, G.A.(1992).Ethnic Persistence and Role Degradation:Koreans in Japan.Boulder, CO: West View Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVos, C.A.(1967).Japan 's Invisible Race.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVos, G.A.(1995).Ethnic pluralism:con.icts and accommodation.In L. Romanucci-Ross and G.A. DeVos (Eds.), Ethnic Identity:Creation, Conflict, and Accommodation (pp.15–41). Walnut Creek, CA: Altimira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drake, St.C.and Cayton, H.R.(1970).Black Metropolis:A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City, Vol.1, 2.New York: Harcourt.

    Google Scholar 

  • DuBois, W.B.(1982, originally 1903).The Souls of Black Folks.New York: The New American Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, H.(1980).The Struggle that must be:An Autobiography.New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, T.(2003).Adolescent Racial/Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement Revisited. Paper presented at the AREA Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 21-24, 2003.

  • Ferman, L.A., Kornbluh, J.L.and Miller, J.A. (Eds.) (1968).Negroes and Jobs.A Book of Reading.Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folb, E.A.(1980).Runnin 'Down Some Lines:The Language and Culture of Black Teenagers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fordham, S.(1985).Black Students 'School Success as Related to Fictive Kinship.Final Report to the National Institute of Education, Washington, D.C.

  • Fordham, S.(1984).Ethnography in a High School:Learning not to be A Native.A paper presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Denver, CO, November 14-18.

  • Fordham, S.and Ogbu, J.(1986).Black students 'school success:coping with the burden of 'acting white '.Urban Review 18(3):176–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frazier, E.F.(1957).The Negro in the United States (Rev.Edn.).New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans, H.(1979).Symbolic ethnicity:The future of ethnic groups and cultures in America.'' Ethnic and Racial Studies 2:1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Gene Media Forum (2002).Race, Genes and Intelligence.New York: The Gene Media Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, V.M.(1981).Blacks in the United States:the creation of an enduring people.In G.P. Castile, and G.Kusher (Eds.), Persistence Peoples:Cultural Enclaves in Perspective (pp.69–77).Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grier, W.H.and Cobbs, P.M.(1968).Black Rage.New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haley, A.(1976).Roots:The Saga of an American Family.New York: Dell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, R.L.(1979).Black Separatism in the United States:Hanover, NH: The New England University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, S.T.(1972).Black and White identity development:aspects and perspectives.Journal of Youth and Adolescence 1(2):113–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, R.(Nd).Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro, March 1925 (pp.631–635).Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press.

  • Haynes, R.L.(1985).Minority Strategies for Success.Unpublished Manuscript, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Special Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrnstein, R.J.and Murray, C.(1994).The Bell Curve:Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life.New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt, D.(Executive Producer).(1979, November 11).60 Minutes [Television Broadcast ].New York, NY: CBS Broadcasting Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirasawa, Y.and Nabeshima, Y.(1995).Dowa Education:Educational Challenge Toward a Discrimination-free Japan.Osaka, Japan: Buraku Liberation Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holt, G.S.(1972).Inversion in Black communication.In T. Kochman (Ed.), Rappin and Stylin ' Out:Communication in Urban Black America (pp.152–159).Chicago, IL: University of Illi-nois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horvat, E. Mc.and O 'Connor, C.(2001).The Black-White Achievement Gap and Black Cul-tural Opposition to Acting White:Where do we go from Here?American Sociological Asso-ciation, 97th Annual Meeting, Chicago.

  • Johnson, C.S.(1931).The Negro in American Civilization.London, England: Constable and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, C.S.(1943).Backgrounds to Patterns of Negro Segregation.New York: Crowell-Collier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, K.(1972).The Vocabulary of Race.In T.Kochman (Ed.).Rappin 'and 'Stylin 'out.Communication in Urban Black America.(p.140–151).Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keyes, C.F.(1981).Ethnic Change.Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kochman, T.(1981).Black and White Styles in Conflict.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kochman, T.(1987).The ethnic component in Black language and culture.In J.S. Phinney and M.J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children 's Ethnic Socialization:Pluralism and Development (pp.117–133).Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Labov, W.(1972).Language in the Inner City:Studies in the Black English Vernacular.Phila-delphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, A.(1925).Enter the New Negro.In Hayes, R.(Nd).Harlem, Mecca of the New Negro, March 1925 (pp.631–635).Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luster, L.(1992).Schooling, Survival, and Struggles, Black Women and the GED.Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, School of Education, Stanford University.

  • Marshall, R.(1967).The Negro Workers.New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, J.(1983).Visible, vulnerable, and viable:emerging perspectives of a minority professor.In J.H. Cones, J.F. Noonan and D.Janha (Eds.), Teaching Minority Students: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No.l6.(pp.17–28).San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, J.(1982).Re.ections of a Black social scientist:some struggles, some doubts, some hopes.Harvard Educational Review 52(1):27–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J.T.Jr.(1981).A Search for Equality:The National Urban League, 1910-1961. University Park, PA: The University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myrdal, G.(1944).An American Dilemma:The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Vol.1. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nestby, J.P.(1982).Black Images in American Films, 1896-1954:The Interplay Between Civil Rights and Film Culture.New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norgren, P.H.and Hill, S.E.(1964).Toward Fair Employment.New York: Columbia Uni-versity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novak, D.A.(1978).The Wheel of Servitude:Black Forced Labor After Slavery.Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O 'Connor, C.(1996).Optimism Despite Limited Opportunity:Schooling Orientation and Agency Beliefs Amongst Low-income African American Students.Unpublished Dissertation, Univer-sity of Chicago, Chicago, IL.

  • Ogbu, J.(1978).Minority Education and Caste:The American System in Cross-Cultural Per-spective.New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbu, J.(1998).Community Forces and Minority Educational Strategies:The Second Part of the Problem.Berkeley, CA: Department of Anthropology, University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbu, J.(1999).Beyond language:ebonics, proper english, and identity in a Black-American speech community.American Educational Research Journal (Summer)36(2).

  • Ogbu, J.(2000).Collective Identity and Schooling.In H.Fujita and K.Shimizu (Eds.), Edu-cation, Knowledge and Power.Tokyo:Shinyosha Ltd (English version).

  • Ogbu, J.(2002).Black-American students and the academic achievement gap:What else you need to know.Journal of Thought.37(4):9–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbu, J.(2003).Black Students in an Affluent Suburb:A Study of Academic Disengagement. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogbu, J.and Margold, J.(1986).A Summary of Literature Review On Black Oppositional Identity And Cultural Frame of Reference.Unpublsihed Manuscript, Survey Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

  • Ogbu, J.and Simons, F.(1988).Black Autobiographies:A Search for Cultural Model of Minority Status and American Society.Unpublished Manuscript, Survey Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA

  • Ogbu, J.and Simons, H.D.(1994).Cultural Models of School Achievement:A Quantitative Test of Ogbu 's Theory.Final Report.Graduate School of Education, National Center for the Study of Writing, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

  • Ogbu, J.and Simons, H.D.(1998).Voluntary and involuntary minorities:A cultural-ecological theory of school performance with some implications for Education.Anthropology and Education Quarterly 29(2):155–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, W.L.(1951).We Charge Genocide.New York: International Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petroni, F.A.(1970).'Uncle toms ':White stereotypes in the Black Movement.Human Orga-nization 29(4):260–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phinney, J.S.and Rotheram, M.J.(1987).Children 's ethnic socialization:Themes and im-plications.In J.S. Phinney and M.J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children 's Ethnic Socialization: Pluralism and Development.Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phinney, J.S.and Rosenthal, D.A.(1992).Ethnic identity in adolescent:Process, context and outcome.In G.R. Adams, R.P. Gullotta and R.Montemayor (Eds.), Adolescent Identity Formation (pp.145–172).Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawick, G.P.(1972).From Sundown to Sunup:The Making of the Black Community.Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redkey, E.S.(1969).Black Exodus:Black Nationalist and Back-to-Africa Movements, 1890-1910.New Haven, CN: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockquemore, K.A.and Brunsma, D.L.(2002).Beyond Black:Biracial Identity in America. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, A.M.(1967).The Negro in the American economy.In A.M. Ross and H.Hill (Eds.), Employment, Race and Poverty:A Critical Study of the Advantaged Status of Negro Workers from 1865 to 1965 (pp.3–48).New York: Harcourt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowan, C.T.(1967).The Negro 's Place in the American Dream.In J.D. Harrison and A. B.Shaw (Eds.), The American Dream;Vision and Reality.San Francisco, CA: Can eld Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shade, B.(1984).Personal traits of educationally successful black children.Negro Educational Review 32(2):6–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, H.(1988).White Violence and Black Response:From Reconstruction to Montgomery. Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smitherman, G.(1977).Talkin 'and Testifyin ':The Language of Black American.Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sochen, J.(1972).The Unbridgeable Gap:Blacks and their Quest for the American Dream. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sowell, T.(1974).Black excellence:the case of Dunbar High School.''The Public Interest (Spring):5-7, 10–11, 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, E.H.(1966).The Process of Cultural Enclavement in Middle America.''36th Congress of International de Amerianistas, Seville, vol.3:267–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, E.H.(1967).Cycles of Conquest.Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, E.H.(1971).Persistent cultural systems:a comparative study of identity systems that can adapt to contrasting environments.Science 174:795–800.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starker, C.J.(1971).Black Portraiture in American Fiction:Stock Characters, Archetypes, and Individuals.New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C.(1992).Race and the Schooling of Black Americans.The Atlantic Monthly (April), 68–73.

  • Stuckey, S.(1987).Slave Culture:Nationalist Theory & The Foundations of Black America.New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Styron, W.(1966).The Confessions of Nat Turner.New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sygnnerstvedt, S.(1972).The White Response to Black Emancipation:Second-Class Citizenship in the United States since Reconstruction.New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S.A.(1973).Some funny things happened on the way up.Contact 5(1):12–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, B.L.(2001).Navigating Knowing/Complicating Truth:African American Learners Ex-periencing Oral History as Real Education.Unpublished Dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural Mechanical College.

  • Weis, L.(1985).Between Two Worlds:Black Students in an Urban Community College.London: Rutledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisbrodt, R.(1991).Freedom Bound:A History of America 's Civil Rights Movement.New York: A Plumer Book.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiederman, J.E.(1985).Brothers and Keepers.New York: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, L.(1996).One drop of blood.In J.A. Kromkowski (Ed.), Race and Ethnic Relations, Annual Edition.(pp.10–16).Sluice Dock, Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, M.A.(2001).I 'm Chocolate, You 're Vanilla:Raising Healthy Black and Biracial Children in a Race-Conscious World.San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yon, D.A.(2000).Elusive Culture:Schooling, Race, and Identity in Global Times.New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. John U. Ogbu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ogbu, J.U. Collective Identity and the Burden of “Acting White” in Black History, Community, and Education. The Urban Review 36, 1–35 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:URRE.0000042734.83194.f6

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:URRE.0000042734.83194.f6

Search

Navigation