“Carrying it for the whole race”: Achievement, race and meaning among five high achieving African American men

This article compares two groups of high-achieving African-American male high school seniors and the degree to which their achievement is influenced by negative stereotypes and ideas of racial group membership. Although all of the participants were high-achieving students, they found distinct motivations for this achievement that are impacted by their perspectives on issues of race, racism, and negative stereotypes. This research suggests that our conceptions of academic achievement should avoid assumptions that achievement has some inherent or intrinsic value that is consistent across or within cultural, ethnic, and economic contexts.