The Effect of Family Immigration History on Blacks in Higher Education

Social science research has a strong tradition of explicating the link between race and educational attainment. This review explores racial differences in achievement in higher education with the added dimension of family immigration history. In particular, this article focuses on Black students and compares African-Americans or native Blacks with those Black students whose families immigrated to the United States within the past two generations. Theories which aid in this comparison are: socioeconomic explanations, segmented assimilation theory, theories of social capital, the theory of oppositional culture, and stereotype threat. Empirical evidence for each theoretical explanation is provided. This article concludes with a call for further research in differences in educational attainment by race and immigrant generation, focusing on early education, emerging multi-racial groups, and gender.