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Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community

by

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson

A thesis

presented to Princeton University

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts

in

Department of Sociology.

Princeton, New Jersey, 1985

(c) Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, 1985

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis.

I authorize Princeton University to lend this thesis to oth-

er institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly

research.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson

I further authorize Princeton University to reproduce this

thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in

part, at the request of other institutions or individuals

for the purpose of scholarly research.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson

Princeton University requires the signatures of all persons

using or photocopying this thesis. Please sign below, and

give address and date.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v

Chapter page

I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. HYPOTHESIS 4

Dependent Variables 4

Interaction Attitudes 4

Comfort and its Relationship to

Interaction Attitudes 5

Separationism/Pluralism and

Integrationism/Assimilationism 6

Benefit Attitudes 9

Change Over Time in the Dependent Variables 11

Independent Variables 15

Causal Model 18

Hypotheses 18

III. METHODS 22

Questionnaire 22

Measures of the Dependent Variables 22

Measures of the Independent Variables 24

The Sample 25

IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26

Description of the Sample 26

General Attitudes of Respondents 27

Background of the Respondents 33

Explanatory Findings 36

Time vs. Ideologies 36

Time vs. General Comfort and Motivation

to Black Community 37

Association Between Time and Ideologies 39

Time and its Correlates 40

Association Between Ideologies and

Schools Attended 43

Associations between Ideologies and the

Dependent Variables 44

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51

Revised Causal Model 51

Major Conclusion 53

New Hypothesis 57

VI. APPENDIX 65

BIBLIOGRAPHY 66

DEDICATION

To Mom, Dad, Craig, and all of my special friends:

Thank-you for loving me and always making me feel good about

myself.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been possible without the help

and guidance of my advisor, Professor Walter Wallace.

Thank-you Professor Wallace you have made me a much better

student.

I would also like to thank my respondents, members of the

ABPA, who participated in my study. It is good to know that

Black Princeton students can count on the support of the As-

sociation.

Special thanks to Mr. Steve Dawson, President of the ABPA,

and Mr. Richard Roper for their time and support.

Finally, I would like to thank Pat Larue and the Alumni Records

office for assisting me in mailing my questionnaires.

1

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study is to examine various attitudes

of Black Princeton alumni in their present state and as they

are perceived by the alumni to have changed over time. This

study tries to examine the following attitudes of alumni:

the extent to which they are comfortable interacting with

Black and with White individuals in various activities; the

extent to which they are motivated to benefit the Black com-

munity in comparison to other entities such as themselves,

their families, God, etc.; the ideologies they hold with re-

spects to race relations between the Black and White commu-

nities; and feelings they have toward the Black lower class

such as a feeling of obligation that they should help im-

prove the lives of this particular group of Blacks.

As a future Black alumnus, this study is particularly in-

teresting because often times I take my own attitudes about

such issues for granted;. never pausing to reflect upon how

my experiences at Princeton may somehow have caused my atti-

tudes to change. This is important for Blacks in contempo-

rary society because as more Blacks begin attending predomi-

nately White universities it will be helpful to know how

their experiences in these universities affect their future

2

attitudes. In years to come if their attitudes do change,

is it possible, for example, that they will become more

comfortable interacting with Blacks or with Whites in vari-

ous activities? Will they become more or less motivated to

benefit the Black community? If there is a change in their

attitudes to what might it be attributed? Will they feel

any obligation as a member of the Black community to help

other Blacks in particular who are less fortunate than them-

selves?

Earlier in my college career, there was no doubt in my

mind that as a member of the Black community I was somehow

obligated to this community and would utilize all of my

present and future resources to benefit this community first

and foremost. My experiences at Princeton have made me far

more aware of my “Blackness” than ever before. I have found

that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some

of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I

sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really

don’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I

interact with Whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to

them, I will always be Black first and a student second.

These experiences have made it apparent to me that the

path I have chosen to follow by attending Princeton will

likely lead to my further integration and/or assimilation

into a White cultural and social structure that will only

allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becom-

3

ing a full participant. This realization has presently,

made my goals to actively utilize my resources to benefit

the Black community more desirable.

At the same time , however, it is conceivable that my

four years of exposure to a predominately White, Ivy League

University has instilled within me certain conservative val-

ues. For example, as I enter my final year at Princeton, I

find myself striving for many of the same goals as my White

classmates–acceptance to a prestigious graduate or profes-

sional school or a high paying position in a successful cor-

poration. Thus, my goals after Princeton are not as clear

as before.

Is it possible that other Black alumni share these feel-

ings? Do most alumni experience a change in their atti-

tudes; and, if so, how are they likely to change? This

study will try to provide some answers to these questions.

However, before discussing the findings, it will be neces-

sary to define the variables of the study and explain the

methods used to measure these variables.

4

Chapter II

HYPOTHESIS

DEPENDENT VARIABLES

This. study focuses on four dependent variables which may

be divided into two attitude categories: 1) the extent to

which respondents to the questionnaire feel personally and

ideologically comfortable interacting with Blacks and with

Whites; and 2) the relative degree of motivation these re-

spondents have to benefit various entities–including the

Black community, themselves, their families, and the Ameri-

can community at large (which is, of course, predominately

White). Let us call these two categories “Interaction Atti-

tudes” and “Benefit Attitudes”.

Interaction Attitudes

There are two basic variables in this category. By in-

quiring about the relative comfort that the respondents feel

when interacting with both Blacks and Whites in various ac-

tivities, the study tries to provide some idea of the re-

spondents’ personal preferences when interacting with Blacks

and with Whites, and thus measures their degree of attach-

5

ment to individuals of different races. In addition, the

study also inquires about respondents’ ideological prefer-

ences regarding relations between the Black and White commu-

nities. Let us consider these two variables more closely.

Comfort and its Relationship to Interaction Attitudes

Webster’s Dictionary of English offers several key syno-

nyms for “comfort”, some of which are ease, pleasure, and

enjoyment. When one speaks of being “comfortable with”

someone or something, one often thinks of environments which

promote feelings of ease and with which one is familiar,

such as being in one’s own home or with one’s family and

close friends. More often than not, one finds comfort in

things with which one is familiar rather than in unfamiliar

things. It is also more likely that one is more attached to

to things with which one is familiar than to things with

which one is unfamiliar. Therefore, in the case of the re-

spondents, I argue that the relative sense of comfort they

may feel when interacting with Blacks in comparison to

Whites (and vice versa) in various activities reflects the

relative ease and familiarity the respondents feel with

Blacks in comparison to Whites which, in turn, indicates the

extent to which the respondents are personally attached to

Blacks as individuals in comparison to Whites as individu-

als.

6

It is important to point out that one’s attitudes about

race relations on an individual level have an important de-

gree of logical independence from one’s attitudes about race

relations on a community level. An individual who is more

personally comfortable with Blacks than with Whites on an

individual level need not hold political ideologies which

support the separation of Blacks and Whites on a community

level. Likewise, an individual who is personally more com-

fortable with individual Whites than with individual Blacks

may or may not hold ideologies which support the integration

of Blacks and Whites on a community level. Therefore, it is

necessary to measure attitudes towards relations between

Blacks and Whites on a community level (to be referred to as

“ideologies”) independently from personal attitudes towards

relations between Blacks and Whites on an individual level.

The variable to be discussed next tries to accomplish this

by mesauring the extent to which the respondents are separa-

tionist and/or pluralist or integrationist and/or assimilia-

tionist (to be referred to as sep/plur and int/assim).

Separationism/Pluralism and Integrationism/Assimilationism

Unlike the discussion of “comfort”.in the previous sec-

tion, literature defining concepts of sep/plur and int/assim

was found. Therefore, in order to demonstrate the role of

7

these concepts in this study, the following section will

draw on the writings of such authors as van den Berghe,

Billingsley, and Carmichael and Hamilton, to name a few,

whose writings utilize these concepts.

van den Berghe (1967), discusses the possibility of two

types of pluralism: 1)cultural structural pluralism in

which one finds different ethnic groups with their own lan-

guages, values, etc., but participating in a common social

structure (things people do together); and 2)social struc-

tural pluralism in which one finds shared languages and val-

ues across different ethnic groups each participating in its

own separate social structure.)1 These definitions of plural-

ism utilized by van den Berghe serve as a basis for using

the term “pluralism” as a measure of the respondents’s atti-

tudes about race relations between Blacks and Whites on a

community level.

The idea of separationism and pluralism (both cultural

structural and social structural) is also discussed by Bill-

ingsley (1968) who believes there is a need for Blacks to

build up their own communities; define themselves by new

“Black” standards different from the old White standards;

and exercise power and control over their own institutions

and services within the Black community.

1 Pierre van den Berghe, Race and Racism, (New York: Wiley),

1967: p. 35.

8

Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton’s (1967) devel-

oped definitions of separationism in their discussion of

Black Power which guided me in the formulation and use of

this concept in the study.

The concept of Black Power rests on the fundamen-

tal premise: Before a group can enter the open

society, it must close ranks. By this we mean

that group solidarity is necessary before a group

can operate effectively from a bargaining position

of strength in a pluralistic society.’

Thus, Carmichael and Hamilton define separationism as a nec-

essary stage for the development of the Black community be-

fore this group integrates into the “open society”.

The idea of creating separate social structure and cul-

tural structures as suggested by these authors serves to

clarify definitions of separationism/pluralism as they func-

tion in the dependent variable which tries to measure the

respondents’ ideologies concerning political and economic

relations between the Black and White communities.

Conyers and Wallace (1976) embody the idea of Blacks

working with Whites as a plausible political and economic

ideology about relations between the Black and White commu-

nities. Their discussion focuses on representative integra-

tion which is the integration of Black official into various

aspects of politics. They discuss problems which face these

Black officials who must persuade the White community that

they are above issues of race and that they are representing

2 Stokely Carmichael and :Charles Hamilton, Black Power: The

Politics of Liberation in America, (New York: Vintage Books),

1967: p. 44.

9

all people and not just Black people. The idea of working

with Whites to form a common social structure and cultural

structure as opposed to creating two separate social struc-

tures and cultural structures discussed in the writings of

Conyers and Wallace have aided in the development of con-

cepts of integrationism and assimilationism as they function

in this study.

Benefit Attitudes

The second set of dependent variables in this study tries

especially to measure the extent to which the respondents

were motivated to benefit various social groups. The first

variable was designed to provide some idea of how interested

the respondents are in positively contributing to the Black

community relative to other social groups such as the White

community, their families, their occupations. The second

variable in this category was designed to measure the nature

of the respondents’ attitudes not toward the Black community

as an undifferentiated whole, but specifically toward mem-

bers of the lower class in that community. Let us consider

these variables a little more closely.

The study examines the respondents’ motivations to ben-

efit various individuals and groups of individuals, thereby,

10

measuring their value priorities. The study inquires about

the respondents’ motivations to benefit him/herself, and the

following social groups: the family, the Black community,

the White community, God and church, the U.S. society, the

non-White races of the world, and the human species as a

whole.

In an individual’s lifetime, it is necessary that the in-

dividual focus his/her interests on benefiting a limited

number of things at a time because it is impossible to help

everyone and everything equally at the same time. There-

fore, the individual must create a motivational hierachy

from which the individual can determine which social groups

are most important to benefit. Some individuals may place

the highest value on benefiting themselves or their fami-

lies. Others may value their occupational fields most high-

ly. Others may place God before everything else. In still

other instances, one’s motivation to benefit either the U.S.

society, the non-White races of the world or the human spec-

ies as a whole could be most powerful.

The desire to benefit the Black community as previously

mentioned, is also included in the list of subjective moti-

vations. However, this dependent variable did not differen-

tiate the Black community in any way because it tries to

measure the level of interest the respondents have in the

Black community as a whole in comparison to other possible

social groups as a whole. The variable discussed next tries

to make up for that.

11

The second benefit variable examines the respondents’

desire to benefit specifically the Black lower class rather

than examining attitudes towards the Black community as a

whole. This identification is useful because there is a

large segment of the Black community that is lower class and

as a result of the strong likelihood that respondents now

belong to classes higher and more powerful, politically and

economically, than the lower class largely because they have

graduated from Princeton University, it is interesting to

see what their attitudes are towards a large majority of

Blacks unlike themselves. Feelings of obligation to improve

the life of the Black lower class, feelings of guilt for be-

traying the Black lower class, as well as feelings of shame

or envy toward the Black lower class are investigated in

this study.

CHANGE OVER TIME IN THE DEPENDENT VARIABLES

By adding a measure for change over time the dependent

variables may be.studied both in their present perceived

state and as they are perceived by the respondents to have

changed over time. The study accomlishes this measure of

change by dividing the respondents’ lives into three peri-

ods: “Pre-Princeton” (years before entering college),

“Princeton” (years in college), and “Post-Princeton” (years

12

after graduating from college).3

It is important to realize that the change measured is

that which is perceived by the individual; an introspective

measure of change. For example, the individual answering

the question may believe that he/she has changed in no way

at all, however, if someone else, possibly a family member,

were asked the same question about the individual, it is

possible that they would believe that the individual has

drastically changed over time.

The measure for change over time is focused around

Princeton because the study attempts to examine the effects

of a Princeton education on Blacks. Respondents are repre-

sentative of a small number of Blacks who attend predomi-

nately White universities and they also represent an even

smaller portion of Blacks attending Ivy League universities.

Unversities such as Princeton only began admitting Blacks in

the 1960’s and presently Blacks comprise only about 10% of

total enrollment. Due to the small number of Blacks in at-

tendance, the University does not often meet the social and

academic needs of its Black population because these univer-

3 For this study, change was computed for first, the Pre-

Princeton to Princeton period (to be referred to as “Pre-

to-Prin”) and then for the Princeton to Post-Princeton

period (to be referred to as “Prin-to-Post”). By calcu-

lating the difference between the number indicated by re-

spondents for Pre-Princeton point and the number indicated

by respondents for the Princeton point, it was possible to

estimate the change during the Pre-to-Prin period. Like-

wise the difference between the number indicated by the

respondents for Princeton point and the number indicated

for the Post-Princeton point shows the change during the

Princeton to Post-Princeton period..

13

sities focus their attentions on accommodating the White

students who comprise the majority of their enrollments.

Dejoie discusses the claims of the negative effects of

predominately White universities on the Black students at-

tending those universities. Although I was unable to find

empirical support for Dejoie’s essay, I feel the ideas she

expressed are worth some discussion.

Dejoie believes that “Institutional policies of predomi-

nately White universities have established practices which

favor the prefered groups and have ranked priorities which

are meant to facilitate the tasks and improve the conditions

of White students while ignoring the needs of the Black stu-

dents”.” Dr. Dejoie goes on in her study to discuss the ef-

fects of biased curricula which does not encourage,”…The

contribution of Blacks, the study of Blacks, as a group”.5

She states that Departments of Black Studies are kept very

separate from White university curricula. Dejoie also dis-

cusses the negative aspects of social and non-academic ac-

tivites at these schools: “Fraternities, sororities, home-

coming activities and student government maintain the White

status-quo. As in academic areas, the social aspects of

university life systematically follow the interests of the

White students–the majority group”.6

4 Dr. Carolyn Dejoie, “Low Morale in Higher Education: Blacks in

Predominately White Universities”, (source of article unknown).

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

14

As a result of such biases, both academic and non-academ-

ic, it is often difficult for some Black students to adjust

to Princeton’s environment; and unfortunately there are very

few adequate support groups which provide some form of gui-

dance and counsel for Black students having difficulty mak-

ing the transition from their home environments to Prince-

ton’s environment. Most students are dependent upon the use

of their own faculties to carry them through Princeton.

Therefore, it is important to understand exactly what kinds

of changes Black students undergo, if any, while in Prince-

ton.

For this study, the Pre-Princeton measure provides a

rough idea of what kinds of beliefs respondents held with

respects to the dependent variables before entering college

and the Post-Princeton measure provides some idea of what

respondents’ beliefs are after college. Thus, if findings

show consistency between the two periods (Pre-Princeton and

Post-Princeton), it may be possible that no change occured

as a result of their Princeton education, or possibly in

this case, Princeton’s effect on the respondents’ beliefs

lasted for a short time and then no longer effected their

attitudes, thus making these effects temporary. If findings

show some change through the periods, it may be possible

that their Princeton education influenced these changes.

15

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

By measuring a number of independent variables, this

study will try to determine some correlates of the respon-

dents’ interest in interacting with Blacks and Whites on an

individual and a community level, as well as their interest

to benefit various social groups; the Black community in

particular. The independent variables of this study include

the following: the actual time the respondents spent inter-

acting with Blacks and Whites (to be referred to as “time”);

and the racial make-up of the individual’s primary and sec-

ondary schools, in addition to the racial make-up of the in-

dividual’s neighborhood; the race of the person whom the in-

dividual most admired throughout his/her lifetime; the

individual’s image of God; the number of books in the indi-

vidual’s home while growing up and presently; and the age

and sex of the individual. Therefore, although this study

examines several independent variables, as will be shown in

a later chapter, only a few independent variables were found

to have strong relationships to the dependent variables.

This section will discuss the independent variables found to

have the strongest relationship to the dependent variables

first, and will discuss the independent variables of the

study which are found to have no relationship to the depen-

dent variables last.

As will be demonstrated, the independent variables which

measure the actual time the indivdual spent with Blacks in

16

comparison to Whites throughout Pre-Princeton, Princeton,

and Post-Princeton years will be used as an independent

variable. This variable is related to several other inde-

pendent variables which measure the racial make-up of the

individual’s neighborhood in which he/she grew up as well as

the individual’s primary and secondary schools.

The individual’s past and present socio-economic status

is measured by the independent variable which asks for the

economic class in which the individual’s family belonged

when growing up, in addition to the individual’s career mo-

bility in comparison to the individual’s parents’ socio-eco-

nomic status.

Another independent variable measured in this study is

the race of the person whom the individual most admired

thoughout his/her lifetime. This variable enables one to

examine the influence of the race of the individual’s role

models on their attitudes with respect to the dependent

variables of the study.

A rough measure of literateness (tendency for an individ-

ual to include reading and writing as a major part of his/

her life) is attempted by the variable examining the number

of books in the individuals home while growing up and pres-

ently; and finally, age and sex of the individual will also

be measured.

The study contains a set of questions examining the indi-

vidual’s belief in God. This measure has been used in place

17

of the traditional measure which asks simply, “Do you be-

lieve in God? “requiring a “yes” or “no” response or “Which

bests describes your religious beliefs? Check one: Protes-

tant, Catholic, Jewish, Athiest, none of the above, other.”

Instead of examining whether or not the individual believes

in God, Piazza and Glock (1979) demonstrated that examining

the specific content of the individual’s beliefs as opposed

to measuring whether or not the individual believes in God

provides greater insight into the individual’s ideas about

God. The study found that when people answer “yes” or “no”

to the traditional measure of Belief in God, they do not all

mean the same thing; their conception of God varies. “Most

Americans Believe in a God, but this does not necessarily

imply that they have the same thing in mind”.7

In order to obtain a clearer idea of the content of the

individual’s religious beliefs, Piazza and Glock developed a

question that depends on three interrelated measures: the

extent to which the individual does or does not believe in a

God, the degree to which the individual believes God influ-

ences the way society is organized, .and the degree to which

the individual believes God influences the individual’s own

life.

7 Piazza and Glock, “Images of God and Their Social Mean-

ing”, Religious Dimensions, (New Jersey: Prentice Hall,

Inc.), 1979: p. 69.

18

CAUSAL MODEL

The diagram below represents the original hypothesized

relationships between the independent and dependent vari-

ables.

Ideologies

Comfort interacting with Blacks

(+)

Time — T

Motivations to benefit the Black community

Attitudes towards the Black lower class

(Diagram 1)

HYPOTHESES

It is my belief, as seen by the above causal model, that

the independent variable which measures the actual time the

respondents have spent throughout the three periods of their

lifetime with Blacks and with Whites will have a strong ef-

fect on the dependent variables of the study because the

more the individual spends time with a group of people, the

more the individual will be familiar with that particular

group of people. For example, if the study shows that more

respondents spend time with Blacks than with Whites during

each period of his/her lifetime, the study is likely to show

more respondents tend to be comfortable with Blacks than

with Whites when interacting in various activities.

19

I also further hypothesize that this sense of comfort

with Blacks will be greatest in all the activities measured

by this dependent variable except intellectual activites.

Intellectually, Blacks may be more comfortable with Whites

as a result of a greater amount of exposure to Whites in an

academic setting while at Princeton. Attending Princeton

has probably forced the respondents to compete intellectual-

ly with Whites more than with Blacks and, thus, they have

probably become more familiar with Whites intellectually,

but in other activities they are not likely to have gained

familiarity with Whites if they did not spend time with

Whites in other activities besides intellectual ones.

As a result of this greater sense of comfort felt by re-

spondents with groups with whom they have spent more time,

more respondents will be interested in benefiting these par-

ticular groups in comparison to others. Thus, the variable

measuring time spent with Blacks or Whites will also influ-

ence the dependent variable measured by the respondents’ mo-

tivation to benefit various social groups. For example, re-

spondents who. have spent time with Blacks are likely to be

more comfortable with Blacks and will, therefore, take a

great interest in benefiting this group in comparison to

other social groups. Consequently, it is also likely that

these respondents are motivated to benefit self, their loved

ones (who are also likely to be Black) and the Black commu-

nity in comparison to other social groups indicated by this

20

variable. While Blacks who are more comfortable with Whites

than with Blacks will probably be less interested in ben-

efiting the Black community.

The more respondents spend time with Blacks, the more po-

sitive and compassionate they will be in their attitudes to-

wards lower class Black Americans, expressing strong feel-

ings of obligation to take part in improving their lives.

Feelings of obligation will also tend to be strong for

Blacks who have spent more time with Whites because of a

general sense of compassion towards all underprivileged peo-

ple. However, the feelings of pride in remaining apart from

their lives will be much stronger than their feelings of

pride in not remaining apart from their lives because these

respondents will show tendencies of downplaying the rela-

tionship between themselves and other Blacks.

The socio-economic status of the respondents’ parents in

addition to the individual’s career mobility are likely to

place these individual’s in social and economic arenas more

compatible with Whites, who make up a large segment of mid-

dle class Americans, because they will be able to afford all

of the luxuries typical of the White middle class. Thus,

the higher the class and the more upward the career mobili-

ty, the more comfortable these Blacks will be with Whites

than with lower class Blacks. Class and upward mobility

will probably influence the dependent variables in the same

way that time spent influenced the independent variables.

21

My overall hypotheses described in this section focuses

on the group with whom the respondents identify most. The

independent variables measure identification through such

questions as time spent with Blacks and Whites, socio-eco-

nomic class, career mobility, etc. The individual’s degree

of identification with either Blacks or Whites will deter-

mine his/her motivations to benefit various social groups,

his/her ideologies about race relations between the Black

and White communites, relative comfort felt by him/her when

interacting with Blacks and Whites, and his/her interest in

the Black lower class. The more the individual identifies

with the Black community the more his attitudes will sway

towards a positive relationship with the Black community,

however, the more the individual identifies with the White

community the more his attitudes will sway towards a neg-

ative relationship with the Black community. This idea of

identification will be discussed further in the Summary and

Conclusions chapter of this study.

22

Chapter III

METHODS

QUESTIONNAIRE

The first part of the questionnaire, questions 1, 3, 4,

and 5 measure the dependent variables, interaction and ben-

efit attitudes. The second part of the questionnaire, ques-

tions 2 and 6 through 19, measure the independent variables.

Measures of the Dependent Variables

Using a scale varying from feeling “much more comfortable

with Blacks” through feeling “about equally comfortable with

Blacks and Whites”, to feeling “much more comfortable with

Whites”, the first question of the study asked respondents

to indicate the relative degree of comfort they felt while

interacting with Blacks and Whites in various activities

during the three life-periods. The activities referred to

were as follows: “intellectual (discussing philosophical,

scientific, technical or artistic ideas”; “social (partying,

dining, going to shows and sports)”; “religious (sharing re-

ligious views, worshipping)”; “political (participating in

demonstrations, political campaigns and organizations)”;

“business (working on a paying job, as ‘subordinate and/or

23

superordinate)”; “dating (including all specifically sexual

activities)”; “sports and athletics (including keeping in

shape and competing)”; and “in general (considering all ac-

tivities)”.

Question 3 asked alumni to rate the contributions to

their behavior, during the three life-periods, of motiva-

tions to benefit various individuals and social groups. The

scale used for this question varied from feeling the motiva-

tion made “no” contribution to their behavior through feel-

ing the motivation made a “moderate” contribution to their

behavior to feeling the motivation made a “very strong” con-

tribution to their behavior. The individuals and social

groups referred to were as follows: self; loved ones; occu-

pation; God and church; local residential community; the

Black American community; the USA as a society; the non-

White races of the world; and the human species as a whole.

A similar scale was used to measure the respondents’

views during the three life-periods about relations between

the Black and White communities in the U.S. in question 4.

In this scale, alternatives ranged from being “very strongly

separationist and/or pluralist” through being “undecided” to

being “very strongly integrationist and/or assimilationist.

Question 5, the last measure of the dependent variables

asked respondents about their personal attitudes towards

lower class Black Americans. This question was broken into

a series of statements to which the respondents were asked

24

to indicate if they felt the statement was “very true”,

“false” or if respondents were “undecided”. Some of the

statements measured were as follows: “I feel proud that I

have been strong enough to avoid remaining in or falling

into, lower class life”; “I feel obligated to help improve

their life”; “I feel they must help themselves”.

Measures of the Independent Variables

The second part of the questionnaire consists of fourteen

questions aimed at measuring the independent variables of

the study (e.g., how much time spent with Blacks vs.

Whites). These questions are very straightforward and try

to provide a general description of the respondents. For

example, question 9 asks “Which of the following describes

your primary and secondary schools?” The choices are, all

or almost all Black, mostly Black, about equally Black and

White, mostly White, and all or almost all White. This

question, in addition to others like question 5 which asked

for the predominate racial make-up of the neighborhood in

which the respondents grew up, provide a general idea of the

types of racial associations the respondents had before en-

tering Princeton. Others such as those questionning respon-

dents’ current living arrangements, age, sex, and career mo-

bility in questions 16, 17, 18, provide a general picture of

the respondents’ ,present lifestyle. Questions 6, 7, and 8

25

measure the content of the respondents’ belief in God. These

questions asked the following: the respondents’ belief in

“God”, the influence of “God” in the respondents’ personal

life, and the respondents’ belief in the influence of “God”

on the way society is organized. These variables may be

combined to create new independent variables if desired.

THE SAMPLE

The sample of 400 Black Princeton alumni was obtained

from the Alumni Records Office at Princeton University.

With the permission of Steve Dawson, the President of the

Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA) and his office,

the staff at the Alumni Records Office assisted the study by

selecting every fourth name on a mailing list of approxi-

mately 1200 names until 400 names were collected.

The questionnaire was sent through U.S. mail along with a

letter from the President of the ABPA, encouraging subjects

to participate in the study, and a stamped, self-addressed

envelope for the return of the questionnaire. The sample

consists of Black Americans who graduated from Princeton’s

undergraduate program. The total number of returned ques-

tionnaires was 89; thus, the response rate for this ques-

tionnaire was approximately 22%.

26

Chapter IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLE

The following section intends to provide an idea of how

the alumni responded to the questionnaire in general. In

order to fully appreciate such a discussion one must keep in

mind the uniqueness of the individuals upon which this study

focuses. Not only are these respondents representative of

middle class Black Americans, but as some of the first

Blacks to be integrated into Princeton University(infamous

for being racially the most conservative of the Ivy League

Universities).

With 73% of respondents indicating that they were between

the ages of 25 and 34 years (see table 1), it is also proba-

ble that the majority of the respondents were attending

Princeton during the 1970’s when affirmative action which

provided numerous opportunities for Blacks economically, ed-

ucationally, and occupationally was put into effect. For

the first time since reconstruction Blacks were beginning to

be properly represented in such fields as politics, govern-

ment, medicine, education, etc. The Black Power Movement

was also strong during this time and as I have mentioned

earlier in the study, such leaders as Stokely Carmichael

27

were stressing the need for Blacks to separate themselves

from White society in order to strengthen the Black communi-

ty. Thus, it will be fascinating to find out what types of

Blacks decided to attend a prestigious, White university,

and how this education may have affected them.

General Attitudes of Respondents

In table 2, during the Pre-to-Prin period, the percentage

of respondents who reported spending more time interacting

with Blacks than with Whites rose sharply from 43% to 61%.

Yet, during the Prin-to-Post period, the percentage of re-

spondents spending time with Blacks dropped back down from

61% to 39%.

Data in. Table 2 only show percentages of respondents

spending time with Blacks and Whites for what shall be re-

garded, for the purposes of this study, as particular points

in time, i.e., Pre-Princeton, Princeton, and Post-Princeton.

One cannot know from these data, how individual respondents

changed between these points. This type of information is

available,: however, by examining Table 2a which shows the

percentage of respondents that (1) changed in the direction

of spending more time with Blacks, (2) made no change in

this respect, and (3) changed in the direction of spending

more time with Whites during the Pre-to-Prin and the Prin-

to-Post periods. Thus, Table 2a shows that during the Pre-

28

to-Prin period 46% of the respondents changed toward spend-

ing more time with Blacks, while only 26% changed toward

spending more time with Whites. During the Prin-to-Post

period, however, the percentage of respondents who changed

toward spending more time with Blacks dropped drastically by

15%.

Thus far in the findings, an interesting trend has al-

ready appeared which shows that the changes and differences

in the tables are related to something that happened to the

respondents while at Princeton. This belief will be dis-

cussed further in the conclusion section of the study.

Just as the percentage of respondents who spent more time

with Blacks than with Whites (and vice versa) appeared to

change during Princeton, the percentage of respondents who

reported holding sep/plur ideologies regarding relations be-

tween the Black and White communities also changed during

Princeton. In Table 3, from the Pre-Princeton point to the

Post-Princeton point the percentage of respondents who held

sep/plur ideologies greatly increased from 26% to 40%. Yet,

from the Princeton point to the Post-Princeton point this

percentage of respondents declined from 40% to 31%.

In Table 3a which shows the individual-level change in

ideologies over time, it is clear that 45% of the respon-

dents changed toward becoming more sep/plur in comparison to

only 16% who changed toward becoming more int/assim during

the Pre-to-Prin period. However, during the Prin-to-Post

29

period this 45% of respondents who changed toward becoming

more sep/plur dropped to 19%, while the 16% of respondents

who changed toward becoming more int/assim rose to 32%.

The data in tables 3 and 3a demonstrate that not only did

the percentage of respondents who spent more time with

Blacks than with Whites increase during Princeton, but there

was also an increase in the percentage of respondents who

held sep/plur ideologies.

Interestingly enough, the percentage of respondents who

were motivated to benefit the Black community increased from

46% at the Pre-Princeton point to 63% at the Princeton

point, and remained drastically unchanged (64%) Post-Prince-

ton (see Table 4.3).

The change over time as seen in Table 4.3a shows that the

35% of the respondents becoming more motivated to benefit

the Black community during the Pre-to-Prin period decreased

to 13% during the Prin-to-Post period, and similarily, the

10% of respondents becoming less motivated to benefit the

Black community increased to 20% during the same two peri-

ods. Thus, even though Table 4.3 shows roughly the same

percentage of respondents were motivated to benefit the

Black community Post-Princeton as Princeton, Table 4.3a

shows that during the Pre-to-Prin period the individual-lev-

el change was away from this motivation.

Findings in tables 4 and 4.1 are roughly similar to find-

ings in Table 4.3 for. respondents’ motivations to benefit

30

self and loved ones. However, for individual-level change

tables 4a and 4.1a, a larger percentage of respondents be-

came motivated to benefit self and loved ones during the

Pre-to-Prin and Prin-to-Post periods than they become less

motivated to benefit themselves and their loved ones. Thus,

becoming increasingly motivated to benefit self and loved

ones during both periods, but especially during the Prin-to-

Post periods, and especially toward benefiting self.

Occupational motivations, in table 4.2 show that during

Princeton, there was a larger percentage of respondents who

were not motivated to benefit their occupations in compari-

son to the percentages of respondents who are moderately mo-

tivated and motivated to benefit occupation. During Post-

Princeton, however, the percentage of respondents who were

strongly motivated to benefit occupation increased greatly

from 31% to 59%.

Tables 4.4 and 4.4a which show the percentage of respon-

dents who are motivated or were motivated to benefit God,

and the individual-level change in this motivation respec-

tively demonstrate an increase in the percentage of respon-

dents not motivated to benefit God; during the Pre-to-Prin

period; 40% during Pre-Princeton to 45% during Princeton,

which decreases during Post-Princeton from 45% to 41% (see

table 4.4). Table 4.4a shows that during Pre-to-Prin period

a larger percentage of respondents reported becoming unmoti-

vated to benefit God, than they were becoming motivated to

31

benefit God, but during the Prin-to-Post period a larger

percentage of respondents reported becoming motivated to

benefit God than they were becoming not motivated to benefit

God.

Tables 5 and 5.1 which show the percentage of respondents

feeling comfortable interacting with Blacks and Whites in

both intellectual and social activities provide data which

also appear to change during Princeton in comparison to Pre-

Princeton and Post-Princeton. Even though the change is not

drastic for intellectual activities, the 26% of the respon-

dents who were comfortable with Blacks rose to 37% from Pre-

Princeton to Princeton, and dropped back to 22% during the

Post-Princeton point. The pattern of group-level change for

social activities was similar: the change from the Pre-

Princeton to the Princeton point (64% and 73% felt more com-

fortable with Blacks at these times) was followed during the

Princeton point to the Post-Princeton point by an opposite

change (73%, and 62% felt comfortable with Blacks).

In tables 5a we find that 36% of the respondents reported

becoming intellectually more comfortable with Blacks, in

contrast to the 16% of the respondents who reported becoming

intellectually more comfortable with Whites during the Pre-

to-Prin period. During the Prin-to-Post period, however,

these figures were reversed, with only 10% becoming more

comfortable with Blacks while 31% became more comfortable

with Whites.

32

Similar individual-level changes in feelings of comfort

in social activities appear in table 5.1a. The 31% of re-

spondents who reported becoming comfortable with Blacks dur-

ing the Pre-to-Prin period decreased to 10% during the Prin-

to-Post period, and the 11% who reported becoming more

comfortable with Whites during the Pre-to-Prin period in-

creased to 31% during the Prin-to-Post period.

In table 5 we find that a larger percentage of the re-

spondents reported feeling equally comfortable with Blacks

and Whites in intellectual activities during each of the

three periods than reported feeling more comfortable with

Blacks or more comfortable with Whites. Indeed, comparing

intellectual comfort (table 5) with social comfort, dating

comfort, political comfort, and general comfort respondents

feel interacting with Blacks and Whites in tables 5.1, 5.2,

5.4, and 5.6, table 5 shows a greater percentage of respon-

dents who felt equally comfortable with Blacks and Whites

than in any of these other tables (which is closer to feel-

ing more comfort with Blacks) and also shows a smaller per-

centage of respndents who felt comfortable with Blacks in

comparison to any of the other comfort tables. The latter

supports the hypothesis that the comfort respondents feel

with Blacks will be greater in all activities accept intel-

lectual ones. However, it must be noted that for business

and sporting (see tables 5.3 and 5.5), percentages of re-

spondents reporting comfort with Blacks are also small in

comparison to tables (5.1, 5.2, 5.4, and 5.6).

33

Background of the Respondents

There was a split between the sexes; 60% of the respon-

dents were male and 40% were female (see table 6). Fifty-

one percent of the respondents were raised in homes which

were lower middle class; while 24% of the respondents were

raised in lower or under class households, and 24% were

raised in upper to upper middle class households (see table

7).

Table 8 shows that reading and writing became more apart

of the respondents’ lives after they left Princeton. The

seventy-four percent of respondents who indicated having 51

to over 100 books in their homes during the time they were

growing up increased to 89%, while the 25% of respondents

indicating living in homes with less than 50 books while

growing up decreased to 11%.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they grew up in

all or mostly Black neighborhoods, 20% said they grew up in

all or mostly White neighborhoods, and 15% of the respon-

dents reported growing up in neighborhoods that were equally

Black and White. Fifty-one percent of the respondents re-

ported that they grew up in cities, 40% grew up in suburbs,

and only 9% reported growing up on a farm or in “open coun-

try”

34

Even though more respondents reported growing up in Black

neighborhoods many attended secondary schools whose popula-

tion was becoming less Black than White in comparison to

their primary schools. For example, the percents for re-

spondents who reported attending Black primary schools and

White primary schools were almost equal; 46% Black, 45%

White and 9% Black and White. However, for the secondary

schools, the percent of respondents reporting that they at-

tended White schools increased to 63%, while the percent of

respondents who reported they attended Black schools dropped

to 24%, and 13% attended schools that were equally Black and

White.

Although the schools the respondents attended during the

Pre-Princeton point became more White than Black, this trend

did not appear with respect to their present living arrange-

ments. Fifty-four percent of respondents reported living

with one or more Blacks, only 5% reported living with one or

more Whites, 4% reported living with one or more Blacks and

Whites, and 38% lived alone.

At all three times investigated in this study, respon-

dents reported admiring Blacks more than Whites. During the

Pre-Princeton point, 58% reported admiring a relative, while

30% reported admiring a Black friend, or Black fictional or

non-fictional person; and only 11% reported admiring a White

friend, or White fictional or non-fictional person. During

the Princeton point, 50% of the respondents reported admir-

35

ing a Black friend or fictional/non-fictional person, while

39% reported admiring a relative, and once again, only 10%

reported admiring a White friend or fictional/non-fictional

person. During the Post-Princeton point, 47% reported ad-

miring a relative, 44% reported admiring a Black friend or

fictional/non-fictional person, and 9% reported admiring a

White friend or fictional/non-fictional friend (see table

9).

Seventy-one percent of the respondents reported being in

careers that have made them upwardly mobile from their pa-

rents’ socio-economic class, while none of the respondents

reported being downwardly mobile from their parents’ socio-

economic class, and only 17% of the respondents reported re-

maining even with their parents’ socio-economic class; 12%

did not know yet how they were moving (see table 10).

With respect to belief in God, it appears that their gen-

eral belief in some kind of God was relatively high. Sixty-

two percent of the respondents said they definitely believe

in God, while only 6% reported that they do not believe in

God; .24% are uncomfortable with the word “God” but believe

in a.transcendent force; and 9% either do not know or are

uncertain. Seventy-one percent of the respondents believe

God influences their own lives, but only 43% of the respon-

dents believe that God influences the way society is organ-

ized.

36

EXPLANATORY FINDINGS

The strongest relationships found in this study focus on

two variables. The amount of time the respondents spent

with Blacks in comparison to Whites over the three periods

of the respondents’ lifetimes was found to be stongly relat-

ed to most of the dependent variables. However, it was also

found that the ideologies held by the respondents about de-

sirable race relations between the Black and White communi-

ties was also strongly related to most of the dependent

variables. Thus, it was helpful to determine which of these

variables was more closely related to the dependent vari-

ables.

Time vs. Ideologies

In order to determine which came first, time or ideolo-

gies, a new analysis was performed to obtain the relation-

ships in tables 11-11.3. Tables 11 and 11.2 show how close-

ly time is related to.ideologies, while tables 11.1 and 11.3

show how closely ideologies is related to time. This analy-

sis is done to determine whether time is a better predictor

of ideologies or whether ideologies is a better predictor of

time. The comparison of the relationships in these tables

demonstrate that there is no great difference between them.

For example, the difference between the 62% of respondents

37

who reported spending time with Blacks and holding sep/plur

ideologies and the 48% of respondents who reported spending

time with Whites and holding sep/plur ideologies in Table 11

was not much smaller than the difference between the 74% of

respondents who reported holding sep/plur ideologies and

spending time with Blacks and the 56% who reported holding

int/assim ideologies and spending time with Blacks in Table

11.1. Thus, it is not possible to determine which variable

is a better predictor of the other.

Although the data of this study do not permit us to de-

termine the primacy of time over ideologies or vice versa, I

have chosen to examine time as the major controlling vari-

able of the study as demonstrated by the causal model in di-

agram 1. Thus, it is my hypothesis that the actual time the

respondents spent with Blacks and Whites throughout the

three periods of their lifetime will have a strong effect on

the dependent variables of the study.

Time vs. General Comfort and Motivation to Black Community

Support for the hypothesis discussed in the previous

paragraph may be found in the relationships between change

in time and change in general comfort the respondents feel

when interacting with Blacks and Whites in various activ-

ates. In Table 12, there is a strong relationship between

change in time from the Pre-to-Prin period and change in

“general comfort” for the same period. The more respondents

38

increased the time they spent with Blacks during this peri-

od, the more comfortable respondents became, in general,

with Blacks; and the more respondents increased the time

they spent with Whites during this period, the more comfor-

table respondents became, in general, with Whites. This

same positive relationship is also shown in Table 12.1 for

the period Prin-to-Post.

The motivation to benefit the Black community is also in-

fluenced by time (see table 13). The more respondents in-

creased the time they spent with Blacks the more motivated

they became to benefit the Black community; and the more the

respondents spent time with Whites, the more unmotivated the

respondents became to benefit the Black community.

The relationship between change in time and change in mo-

tivation to benefit the Black community for Prin-to-Post

period in Table 13.1 is more ambiguous than the other rela-

tionships for time. A strong relationship is indicated in

the top portion of the table which shows that the more re-

spondents began spending time with Blacks, the more respon-

dents became motivated to benefit the Black community. Yet,

the relationship in the bottom portion of the table shows no

relationship at all.

It is possible that the disappearance of this relation-

ship in the bottom portion of the table is correlated to the

inability to determine which of the variables, time or

ideologies, is more closely related to the dependent vari-

39

ables. As opposed to Table 13.1, tables 19 and 19.1 demon-

strate that the relationship between ideologies and motiva-

tion to benefit the Black community provides a less ambigu-

ous finding. In these tables, it is clear that for both the

Pre-to-Prin and Prin-to-Post periods there is a strong posi-

tive relationship which shows that the more respondents be-

came sep/plur, the more respondents would become motivated

to benefit the Black community, and the more respondents be-

came int/asim, the more unmotivated respondents became to

benefit the Black community. Thus, for certain cases and

periods of time, it is possible that ideologies is more in-

fluential than time.

Association Between Time and Ideologies

The relationship between change in time and change in

ideologies is demonstrated by tables 11-14.1. For each time

period, it was found that the more respondents increased the

time they spent with Blacks, the more they became sep/plur;

and the more the respondents increased time they spent with

Whites, the more respondents became int/assim. Thus, it may

be understood that the more respondents increased the time

they spent with Blacks or Whites greatly influenced their

sense of comfort with Blacks and Whites, in general, in ad-

dition to influencing their desire to benefit the Black com-

munity, and their ideologies.

40

Before discussing the relationship between ideologies and

the other dependent variables of the study, let us examine

the actual percentage of respondents spending time interact-

ing with Blacks and Whites in the three periods in order to

gain an understanding of how these respondents’ attitudes

may have been affected by the change in time.

Time and its Correlates

The frequencies from the data (see tables 2 and 2a) indi-

cate that a smaller percentage of respondents spent time

with Blacks during Pre-Princeton, in comparison to Prince-

ton. During Princeton, this percentage increased greatly,

but declined during Post-Princeton.

The percentages in tables 2 and 2a, in addition to the

relationships between change in time and the dependent vari-

ables in tables 12-14.1 show interesting findings about the

respondents. It is clear that during Princeton, as a result

of the greatly increased percentage of respondents who spent

more time with Blacks than with Whites, it is very likely

that the percentage of respondents who’indicated that they

spent more time with Blacks than with Whites was more com-

fortable with Blacks than with Whites in various activities

while at Princeton in comparison to before entering Prince-

ton and also in comparison to the percentage of respondents

41

who spent more time with Whites or equal time with Blacks

and Whites.

Tables 15-16.1 support this idea by examining relation-

ships between change in time and two activities in particu-

lar, namely intellectual and social ones. The tables demon-

strate that for both the Pre-to-Prin and the Prin-to-Post

periods, the more respondents increased the time they spent

with Blacks, the more comfortable respondents became while

engaging in intellectual and social activities with Blacks

and the less comfortable they became with Whites. The more

respondents increased time spent with Whites, the more com-

fortable respondents became while engaging in intellectual

and social activities with Whites and the less they became

comfortable with Blacks. Thus, the respondents who spent

more time with Blacks during the Pre-to-Prin period were un-

comfortable when interacting with Whites in social and inte-

lectual activities.

Tables 14 and 14.1 show that during the Pre-to-Prin peri-

od, respondents’ ideologies became sep/plur as opposed to

int/assim. Therefore, not only did respondents who began

spending time with Blacks prefer interacting with Blacks in

comparison to Whites on a’ one-to-one basis, but they in-

creasingly held ideologies which support sep/plur. This ob-

servation indicates a likelihood that the high percentage of

respondents who began spending time with Blacks during the

Pre-to-Prin period did so consciously as opposed to being

42

forced to do so as a result of discrimination on the part of

the University forcing Blacks and Whites apart.

Also, given relationships shown in tables 13 and 13.1, it

may be seen that the respondents who increased time spent

with Blacks during the Pre-to-Prin period also became more

motivated to benefit the Black community than respondents

who increased the time they spent with Whites.

As we have seen, the findings discussed in the previous

paragraphs seem to support the hypothesis that respondents

who were increasing the time spent with Blacks were becoming

more attached to the Black community during the Pre-to-Prin

period both in their individual interactions and in their

political ideologies about Black and White relations on a

community level. Respondents who were increasing time spent

with Blacks were also becoming interested in positively con-

tributing to the Black community.

As a result of the huge decline in the percentage of re-

spondents who began increasing time spent with Blacks during

the Prin-to-Post period demonstrated earlier in Table 2, it

seems probable that as respondents became. attached to the

White community with respects to their attitudes, they be-

came detached from the Black community.

Evidence to support the hypothesis previously discussed

may be seen in Table 2a which shows the percentage of re-

spondents who began spending time with Blacks and Whites.

During the Prin-to-Post period, as respondents reported

43

spending time with Whites (an increased from 26% to 31%),

respondents also began spending less time with Blacks (a de-

crease from 61% to 39%).

However, it must be noted that these findings could be

the result of the questionnaire design. Respondents were

asked to rate their attitudes by comparing Blacks and

Whites, thus, as certain attitudes towards Blacks increase,

it is inevitable that these attitudes towards Whites will

decrease and vice versa.

Association Between Ideologies and Schools Attended

The study tries to examine ideologies as it relates to

the dependent variables. Table 17 demonstrates change in

ideologies during the Pre-to-Prin period is not only related

to change in time but also to another independent variable,

namely, “schools attended”, which measures change in the ra-

cial make-up of the primary and secondary schools attended

by the respondents before Princeton.

The variable, schools attended, was created by calculat-

ing the difference between the racial make-ups of each re-

spondents’ primary school and his/her secondary school.

“Schools attended” was crosstabulated with ideologies only

for the period Pre-to-Prin and not the period during Prin-

to-Post because too much time elapes from before Princeton

44

and after Princeton to consider any relationship between

these two variables. Table 17 shows the more the respon-

dents went to secondary schools whose populations were be-

coming more Black than that of their primary schools, the

more the respondents would become sep/plur; and the more re-

spondents went to secondary schools whose populations were

becoming more White than that of their primary schools, the

more the respondents would become int/assim. Thus, ideolo-

gies during Princeton are not only related to time during

Pre-Princeton, but to a combination of time and schools at-

tended.

Associations between Ideologies and the Dependent Variables

It is my hypothesis that ideologies held by the respon-

dents will be positively related to attitudes, comforts, and

motivations of respondents. However, tables 18 and 18.1.,

which show relationships between change in ideologies of re-

spondents and the change in comfort felt when interacting

with Blacks and Whites in general on an individual level for

the periods Pre-to-Prin and Prin-to-Post, indicate an unex-

pected finding. In Table 18, it is clear that a strong re-

lationship exists which demonstrates that as more respon-

dents became sep/plur, more respondents became comfortable

with Blacks in general; and as more respondents became int/

45

assim, more respondents became comfortable with Whites in

general. This table shows the variables moving together,

yet, after Princeton, these variables move in different di-

rections. Table 18.1 shows that the previous relationship

disappears.

In order to explain this disappearance it would be help-

ful to find some third variable having the same relationship

to ideologies and to general comfort during the Pre-to-Prin

period but would have different relationships to these vari-

ables in the Prin-to-Post period. Unfortunately, I have

been unable to find such a variable in this study. Ideolo-

gies and “general comfort” were crosstabulated with every

variable in this study and no such relationship occurred to

explain the disappearance. Thus, in this instance, I will

not venture to speculate beyond the limits of my data.

Despite this peculiar occurance, ideologies and other de-

pendent variables show relatively strong relationships with

few inconsistencies. For example, tables 19 and 19.1 demon-

strate that the more respondents became sep/plur, during the

Pre-to-Prin period, the more respondents became motivated to

benefit the Black community; and the more int/assim they be-

came, the more unmotivated they became to benefit the Black

community.

One possible explanation for this occurance may be that

both integrationist and separationist strive to benefit the

Black community because supporters of these ideologies may

46

believe that their ideologies best serve to benefit the

Black community. However, it is possible that while a Black

separationist may be solely concerned with the particular

community he/she chooses to work within, a Black integra-

tionist may be equally concerned with the Black and White

communities, thus must divide his/her motivations between

these communities. In essense, a Black integrationist who

is dividing motivations between two groups is less concerned

with benefiting the Black community specifically than a

Black separationist who is placing his/her energies into the

Black community only. Such reasoning could account for the

findings which show separationists becoming more motivated

to benefit the Black community in comparison to integration-

ists.

With respect to their attitudes towards the Black lower

class, during both the Pre-to-Prin and the Prin-to-Post

periods, the more respondents became sep/plur, the more re-

spondents became obligated to help improve the lives of the

Black lower class (see tables 20 and 20.1). However, the

relationship between the change in ideologies during the

Prin-to-Post period and the change in feeling of obligation

to the Black lower class in table 20.1 is much weaker than

the relationship during the Pre-to-Prin period.

Relationships in the previous tables could be the result

of the respondents’ increased occupational motivation during

47

the Prin-to-Post period as discussed earlier. This table

shows that the percentage of respondents who became motivat-

ed by their occupation increased from 28% during the Pre-to-

Prin period to 50% from the Prin-to-Post period, while table

4.3a shows that more respondents lost their motivation to

benefit the Black community during the Prin-to-Post period.

These findings make it possible to speculate that at the

Post-Princeton point, as more respondents were becoming in-

creasingly motivated by their occupations, they had less at-

tention to divide among their other priorities. As a re-

sult, some of their motivations to the Black community may

have become withdrawn in order to place more emphasis on oc-

cupational attainments. Consequently, their feelings of ob-

ligation to the Black lower class were decreased as well.

Tables 21 and 21.1 demonstrate that a different relation-

ship exists for both periods when change in ideologies was

crosstabulated with the feeling of pride the respondents

have in avoiding remaining in or falling into the life of

the Black lower class. It was found that the more respon-

dents became int/assim, the more proud they were of this

fact; and the more sep/plur they became, the less proud they

were. But, it should be noted that the relationship during

the Pre-to-Prin period, in this case, is a little weaker

than the Prin-to-Post period relationship.

With some speculation, these findings may be attributed

to the idea that in order for an individual to be int/assim,

48

that individual may hold the belief that Blacks, as a whole,

should strive to become integrated into , as opposed to seg-

regated away from the White community, while a Black who is

sep/plur may believe in striving for the opposite goal.

Therefore, an int/assim may not be achieving his/her goals

by falling into a life with other Blacks, and thus, be more

proud of avoiding their life. A sep/plur, however, may feel

that falling into a life led by other Blacks is a step to-

wards achieving his/her goal and, thus, be less proud of

avoiding the life of the Black lower class.

When the relationship between change in ideologies and

guilt of betraying the Black lower class is analyzed in ta-

bles 22 and 22.1, it is evident that respondents who became

sep/plur, felt more guilt of betrayal and those who became

more int/assim, felt less guilt.

In this instance it is possible that respondents who be-

came sep/plur face some conflict that may produce feelings

of guilt for betraying the Black community. This conflict

may result from actively integrating in a predominately

White environment by attending Princeton. If separtist

ideologies are based on total separation from the White com-

munity, a certain level of guilt is’ more likely to be felt

by a respondent who became sep/plur than by those who became

int/assim. An integrationist is not opposing any of his/her

ideologies by attending Princeton. On the other hand, the

respondent is acting in the best interest of integrationist

49

ideologies and, thus, is faced with no conflict to cause

feelings of guilt.

Table 23, however, shows this same relationship but con-

siderably stronger than the relationship in table 22. For

the Pre-to-Prin period, when respondents were asked if they

felt that the Black lower class must help themselves, a very

weak relationship showing that the more sep/plur the respon-

dents became, the more the respondents felt that the Black

lower class must help themselves appeared; and the more int/

assim they became, the more they felt that the Black lower

class must not help themselves. This same relationship was

present for the Prin-to-Post period in Table 23.1, but it

has become stronger.

Integrationist and separationist ideologies both encour-

age the active participation of the Black community in work-

ing towards self-help. Integrationism and separtionism may

both be ways for the Black lower class to help themselves.

Thus, it is not surprising that the idea of self-help by the

lower class continued to increase through the life periods

of the respondents.

Finally, tables 24 and 24.1 demonstate a strong relation-

ship for the change in ideologies during the Pre-to-Prin

period and the feeling that the situation of the Black lower

class is hopeless, such that the more respondents became

sep/plur, the more respondents felt hopeless; and the more

respondents became int/assim, the less hopeless they felt.,

50

However, once again, this relationship was very weak for the

same relationship in the Prin-to-Post Table 24.1.

My speculation for this finding is based on the possibil-

ity that a separationist is more likely to have a realistic

impression of the plight of the Black lower class because of

the likelihood that a separationist is more closely associ-

ated with the Black lower class than are integrationist. By

actually working with the Black lower class or within their

communities as a result of their ideologies, a separationist

may better understand the desparation of their situation and

feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an inte-

grationist who is ignorant to their plight.

51

Chapter V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The original hypotheses of the study as demonstrated ear-

lier by the causal models in diagram 1, stated that time

would have a positive relationship to the dependent vari-

ables such that the more respondents began spending time

with Blacks, the more they would become attached to Black

individuals and the Black community in several respects; and

the more respondents began spending time with Whites, the

more they would be attached to Whites in several respects.

The findings as demonstrated by the revised causal models

below in diagrams 2 and 3, were not far off from these orig-

inal hypotheses.

REVISED CAUSAL MODEL

Time

Comfort interacting with Blacks

Motivation to benefit the Black community

Attitudes towards the Black lower class

Ideologies

(Diagram 2)

52

The causal model in diagram 2 demonstrates that there is

still a positive relationship between time and the dependent

variables. Ideologies, however, was found to have the same

relationship to the dependent variables. Unfortunately, the

data do not provide a way of determining whether time or

ideologies is more closely related to the dependent vari-

ables for reasons discussed earlier. However, I have chosen

to examine the time respondents spent with Blacks and Whites

as it determines later ideologies and attitudes because I am

more interested in this relationship as opposed to examining

how ideologies determines time.

(Diagram 3)

The causal model in diagram 3 demonstrates that the study

examines the respondents who spent time interacting with

Blacks and Whites on an individual level as the major causal

variable of the study. As discussed earlier, the time spent

has a positive relationship to all the dependent variables

of the study which show that the more respondents began

spending time with Blacks, the more respondents became sep/

plur and.the more respondents became attached and interested

in the Black community. However, the more respondents began

spending time with Whites, the more they became attached to

and interested in the White community.

53

The causal model goes on to argue that the relationships

between ideologies and the variables which measure attit-

dues, i.e., towards the Black lower class, comfort felt on

an individual level with Blacks and Whites , and the desire

to benefit the Black community is as follows: the more re-

spondent became sep/plur, the more respondents became com-

fortable with Blacks, the more respondents became motivated

to benefit the Black community, and held more positive atti-

tudes towards the Black lower class in general. The more

respondents became int/assim, the more they became comforta-

ble with Whites, the less motivated they became to benefit

the Black community, and the less positive their attitudes

became towards the Black lower class in general.

MAJOR CONCLUSION

The major conclusion to be drawn from the findings of the

study is as follows: despite the respondents’ sense of com-

fort with Blacks and Whites, their motivation to benefit the

Black community, or their attitudes towards the Black lower

class before Princeton, more respondents tended to identify

with Blacks during Princeton in every measured respect.

However, after Princeton this identification decreased dras-

tically. Before discussing this finding in more detail, I

feel it is necessary to clarify this idea of identification

as it is used in this study.

54

When I first set out to examine the attitudes of the

respondents towards Blacks and Whites, I believed that the

extent to which a respondent identified with the Black com-

munity would determine that individual’s attitudes. In de-

fining the concept of identification or the ability to

identify with the Black community, I based my definition on

the premise that there is a distinctive Black culture very

different from White culture. Elements of Black culture

which make it unique from White culture such as its music,

its language, the struggles and a “consciousness” shared by

its people may be attributed to the injustices and oppres-

sions suffered by this race of people which are not compara-

ble to the experiences of any other race of people through

this country’s history. However, with the increasing inte-

gration of Blacks into the mainstream society, many “inte-

grated Blacks” have lost touch with the Black culture in

their attempts to become adjusted and comfortable in their

new culture–the White culture. Some of these Blacks are no

longer able to enjoy the qualities which make Black culture

so unique or are unable to openly share their culture with

other Blacks because they have become so far removed from

these experiences and, in some instances, ashamed of them

as a result of their integration.

There are other Blacks who, in being integrated have not

lost touch. They have maintained an awareness and a sincere

appreciation for the uniqueness of the Black culture. Un-

55

like those who have lost touch, these Blacks have not become

ashamed of Black culture.

It is with these ideas that I formulated my conception of

identifying with the Black community. Thus, I believe that

a respondent who did not identify with the Black community

would be less likely to spend time with Blacks and be less

motivated to benefit the Black community. However I encoun-

tered several problems following this line of reasoning.

I now believe it is incorrect to assume that just because

a Black individual does not enjoy or choose to participate

in the culture of his people, that that individual is not

interested in benefiting that group of people. For example,

a Black may not enjoy the music, or language of the Black

community because his preferences lead him to other inter-

ests, but this same individual may actively work to improve

employment for Blacks because of a sincere interest in ame-

liorating this condition. Therefore, the inability to

identify with one aspect of the Black culture does not nec-

essarily cause apathy towards Blacks in general.

Also, a Black individual may be unable to understand or

appreciate the Black culture because that individual was not

raised in that culture, yet still be able to;identify as be-

ing a Black person. For example, a Black person may have

all White friends and prefer these friends and their activi-

ties to those with Blacks without the individual believing

that he/she is White. It is possible that the individual

56

identifies with being a Black person and chooses to benefit

the Black community because he/she is a Black person, but

does not necessarily identify with the culture.

Thus, defining identification as an appreciation and an

enjoyment found in the Black culture is not complete enough

for the purposes of the study. However, through my study I

was able to redefine the concept of identification.

Earlier in the discussion of “comfort” in the Hypothesis

Chapter, the concept of familiarity was introduced. Until

this point familiarity only served to explain the role of

comfort in this study. However, after completion of my

study, it is clear to me that familiarity or the extent to

which respondents are familiar with the Black community is

helpful in redefining the concept of identification. It is

my belief that a respondent’s sense of familiarity with the

Black community or with the White community will result in

the respondent’s inclination to become attached to Blacks or

Whites on an individual and on a community level.

By measuring relative comfort respondents feel interact-

ing with Blacks and with Whites as well as the time spent

actually interacting with Blacks and Whites, the respondents

ideologies, motivations, and ‘ attitudes towards the Black

lower class, the study is providing an idea of the respon-

dents’ familiarity with Blacks and Whites, which will influ-

ence the extent to which respondents are attached to Blacks

or Whites, thereby indicating the extent to which the indi-

57

vidual identifies with Blacks or Whites. For example, a re-

spondent who spends increasingly more time with Blacks in

comparison to Whites or feels comfort with Blacks in compar-

ison to Whites or holds ideologies that are sep/plur rather

than int/assim, or is more motivated to benefit the Black

community as opposed to being unmotivated, or is more obli-

gated to the Black lower class, is more likely to be famil-

iar with Blacks as opposed to Whites, be more inclined to

become attached to Blacks as opposed to Whites and, thus,

identify more with Blacks as opposed to Whites.

NEW HYPOTHESIS

Many questions arise from these findings. For instance,

why did some respondents tend to become more attached and

interested in the Black community during Princeton? What

influence did their Princeton environment have on their at-

titudes and why were these influences not present before and

after Princeton? The findings provided by this study leave

these questions unanswered because the questionnaire was not

designed to investigate these surprising occurances. How-

ever, it is possible to develop new hypotheses which might

explain these findings and suggest methods for testing them.

One possible hypothesis explaining why some respondents

become attached to Blacks during Princeton was derived from

some ideas Dejoie brought out in her report discussed earli-

58

er in the Hypothesis Chapter. Predominately White universi-

ties like Princeton are socially and academically designed

to cater to the needs of the White students comprising the

bulk of their enrollments. At Princeton, for example, pres-

ently their are only five Black tenured professsors on its

faculty; and the program of Afro-American studies is one of

the smallest and most understaffed departments in the Uni-

versity only offering four courses during the spring semes-

ter of 1985; and there is only one major University recog-

nized organization on campus designed specifically for the

intellectual and social interests of Blacks and other Third

World students.

Activities organized by University groups such as Student

Government rarely, if ever, take into account the diverse

interests which exist at a University that is not 100%

White. If Black students want to have certain speakers or

programs, catering to their interests, they must form sepa-

rate groups within the University, i.e., the Organization of

Black Unity, the Princeton University Black Thoughts Table,

the Society of Black Engineers. Several Black students

within the past four years, have even organized a Food Co-

operative which provides these students with an inexpensive

alternative to University eating facilities and Eating Clubs

which are very expensive by comparison. Thus, it is not

surprising that, in their attempts to satisfy their own in-

tellectual, social, and also economic needs, some respon-

59

dents became attached to Blacks during the Pre-to-Prin peri-

od.

In order to study this hypothesis which, in essence, is

saying that the more respondents became attached to Blacks

during the Pre-to-Prin period, the more respondents became

dissatisfied with the social and academic environment at

Princeton, one might measure the degree of satisfaction re-

spondents felt in their experiences at Princeton. By creat-

ing a scale from being “very satisfied” to being “not satis-

fied at all”, respondents could be asked to rate numerous

Princeton experiences, i.e., social life, academic diversi-

ty, eating options, and in general on this scale. From such

a question, one could discover how satisfied Blacks were at

Princeton and what satisfied them most and least.

Another possible hypothesis created from this study’s

findings explaining why respondents became attached to

Blacks at Princeton is that the mood of Black students at

Princeton during the time that most of the respondents were

attending Princeton was more separationist. As discussed

earlier, most respondents were attending Princeton during

the 70’s, at a time when the Black Power Movement was still

influencing the attitudes of many Blacks.

It is possible that Black individuals either chose to or

felt pressured to come together with other Blacks on campus

because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to

combat a White oppressor. As the few Blacks in a White en-

60

vironment it is understandable that respondents might have

felt a need to look out for one another.

One can contrast the mood of the campus years ago and the

level of attachment to Blacks to that of the present mood of

the campus, which is more pro-integrationist, and the level

of attachment to Blacks. Presently, with the Black Power

Movement behind us and with the implementation of CURL

(College Undergraduate Residential Life), the mood of the

campus has been shifted in such a way that Black students

are discouraged from forming separate groups because of a

fear that they are segregating themselves from mainstream

campus life by doing so. Thus, if a survey were to be made

today of the level of Black involvement in minority organi-

zations and their involvement in campus organizations, there

would be a larger percentage of Blacks involved in main-

stream life in comparison to the years when these respon-

dents were at Princeton. But, on the other hand, the per-

centage of involvement in Third World organizations would be

much lower now than then. It appears, that the present mood

of the campus is one that encourages the integration and as-

similation of Blacks, whereas the mood of the campus and

even society in general several years ago encouraged the

separation of Blacks. Thus, the mood of the time may have

contributed its influence to more respondents becoming at-

tached to Blacks.

61

So far, I have discussed a few characteristics of Prince-

ton and the time at which respondents were attending the

University which may account for some of the main findings

of this study. However, it is still necessary to discuss

why the respondents’ Princeton experiences were different

from their Pre and Post-Princeton experiences. It is impor-

tant to remember that before Princeton, a large percentage

of the respondents were attending secondary schools whose

population was more heavily White in comparison to their

primary schools.

After Princeton, one may speculate that respondents were

also in predominately White work environments or attending

graduate or professional schools that were also predominate-

ly White. Thus, a discussion of the differences between

these experiences in predominately White environments and

Princeton experiences that prevented Pre and Post environ-

ments from changing their attitudes will be interesting.

What I believe distinguishes Pre-Princeton from Princeton

experiences accounting for the respondents’ tendencies to

identify more with Blacks during Princeton, is the presence

of a support group, i.e., family or home, during Pre-Prince-

ton that was absent during Princeton. During Pre-Princeton

if respondents became frustrated or discouraged as a result

of their experiences in a predominately White academic envi-

ronment the respondents could always escape from these frus-

trations when they left these environments to go home.

62

Thus, respondents’ families and homelives provide relief

from any problems or tensions encountered in predominately

White environments. However, when respondents enter col-

lege, many, if not most, are unable to go home for support

from families readily when they are frustrated or discour-

aged by their Princeton environment usually because their

familiies are far from them and telephoning home may be re-

stricted because of the expense. Thus, in their attempts to

find a substitute support group, respondents turn to indi-

viduals in their environments who most resemble their old

support groups; individuals who share the same problems as

themselves and understand their complaints. Consequently,

many respondents find themselves spending more time with

other Blacks while at Princeton because it is likely that

other Blacks are more sensitive to respondents’ problems,

and it is also likely that respondents are identifying more

with Blacks.

What distinguishes Post-Princeton from Princeton experi-

ences, accounting for the respondents’ tendencies to identi-

fy more with Blacks during Princeton are the respondents’

increased motivations to benefit their occupations. Assum-

ing that most of these respondents are working or attending

schools during Post-Princeton that are predominately White,

most of their time during Post-Princeton will be spent in-

teracting with their White co-workers or classmates. Thus,

the increasing amount of time spent with Whites resulting

63

from the respondents’ occupational pursuits can account for

the increased attachment to Whites during Post-Princeton.

In essence, in order to advance in their careers or post-

graduate studies, respondents realize they must be able to

get along with their co-workers or classmates who are likely

to be White, thereby identifying more with Whites.

I began this study questionning my own attitudes as a fu-

ture alumnus. I wondered whether or not my education at

Princeton would affect my identification with the Black com-

munity. I hoped that these findings would help me conclude

that despite the high degree of identification with Whites

as a result of the educational and occupational path that

Black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still main-

tain a certain level of identification with the Black commu-

nity. However, these findings do not support this possibil-

ity.

Findings show that some respondents did experience a

change in their attitudes over the periods of time indicated

in this study. By studying respondents who did change, it

was shown that respondents’ experiences while attending

Princeton caused their identification with Blacks and the

Black community to increase as their’ identification with

Whites and the White community decreased. However, after

Princeton, respondents’ experienced the opposite change in

attitude; their identification with Blacks and the Black

community decreased as their identification with Whites and

64

the White community increased. Thus, these findings suggest

that respondents who experience change as a result of their

Princeton experiences are likely to identify less with

Blacks and the Black community in comparison to Whites and

the Whites community.

It is important to note that it is impossible for me to

generalize these findings for all Black Princeton alumni be-

cause the sample for this study was much too small to make

any kind of generalizations. Therefore, I am only able to

draw conclusions from these findings for the respondents to

my questionnaire.

What is left to be done now is a further examination of

this issue to determine if a Princeton education has unique

effects on Blacks or if the effects are common for all col-

lege-educated Blacks in general. It is my belief that such

a study should be undertaken by developing a new question-

naire to be distributed to Black alumni of several different

types of universities. Such a study could prove to be inva-

luable to bettering the educational environments for Blacks

who are able to attend college, thereby improving the over-

all quality of a college education for Blacks.

65

CHAPTER VI

APPENDIX

[statistics omitted]

66

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Billingsley, Andrew, Black Families in White America, (New

Jersey: Prentice-Hall), 1968.

Carmichael, S. & Hamilton, C., Black Power: The Politics of

Liberation in America, (New York: Vintage Books), 1967.

Conyers, J. & Wallace W., Black Elected Officials, (New

York: Russell Sage Foundation), 1976.

Dejoie, Carolyn, “Low Morale in Higher Education: Blacks in

Predominately Whites Universities”, (source of article

unknown).

Havemann, E. & West, P., They Went to College: The College

Graduate in America Today, (New York: Harcourt, Brace &

Co.), 1952.

Piazza & Glock, “Images of God and Their Social Meaning”,

Religious Dimensions, (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.),

1979.

Thomas, Gail E., Black Students in Higher Education,

(Connecticut: Greenwood Press), 1981.

van den Berghe, Pierre, Race and Racism, (New York: Wiley),

1967.