Confronting Racial Inequity with Black History
The Development and Initial Validation of a Measure of Black History Consciousness for African Descent Youth
Using a validated adult self-report measure of Black history as basis, the goal of the current study is to develop and initially validate a brief self-report measure assessing the importance and meaning of Black history for youth using a mixed-methods critical, participatory action approach to scale construction. This study will be grounded in transformative Black education and Black psychology frameworks to center the lived experiences of African descent youth and accurate histories of the African diaspora.
Sponsor
Spencer Foundation Racial Equity Grant Program
$74,985Principal investigator
Collette Chapman-Hilliard
Associate professor
Counseling and Human Development ServicesActive since
May 2025
Abstract
Black history has been identified as important to psychosocial adjustment and education outcomes. In K-12 and higher education settings, Black history supports transformational educational experiences whereby African descent students can more readily negotiate race-based discrimination and develop counternarratives that challenge deficit ideas about their abilities as students and their value as people.
Despite growing evidence to suggest the significance of Black history in contributing to African descent students’ academic outcomes and overall psychological well-being, there has been little scholarly attention given to identifying ways to quantitatively assess Black history among African descent youth. Quantitative self-report measures are among the most widely used non-cognitive assessments that support the measurement of individuals’ beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and emotions.
Using a validated adult self-report measure of Black history as basis, the goal of the current study is to develop and initially validate a brief self-report measure assessing the importance and meaning of Black history for youth using a mixed-methods critical, participatory action approach to scale construction. This study will be grounded in transformative Black education and Black psychology frameworks to center the lived experiences of African descent youth and accurate histories of the African diaspora.