The Obama Effect on African American High School Males
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Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2015 The Obama Effect on fricanA American High School Males Aundra Simmons Vaughn Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Vaughn, Aundra Simmons, "The Obama Effect on fricanA American High School Males" (2015). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 THE OBAMA EFFECT ON AFRICAN AMERCAN HIGH SCHOOL MALES by AUNDRA SIMMONS VAUGHN (Under the Direction of Paul M. Brinson) ABSTRACT “Of all the challenges in education today, I can think of none greater than the challenge of motivating, educating, and empowering black male learners” (Kafele, 2012, p. 67). Research documents the struggles of African American males in society and education. There is concern among educators for role models for young people to emulate (Lines, 2001). To explore President Obama as a role model and the impact of his historic election on African American recent high school male graduates, a qualitative research study was used. A phenomenological design helped described the “essence” of the phenomenon— the election of an African American president—from the perspectives of African American high school males. Eight African American recent high school male graduates from a medium-sized school district in southeast Georgia participated in a semi-structured interview process. For anonymity, students used a pseudo name. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed. From the data analysis, three recurring themes emerged: 1) All participants had heroes who were positive and often familial that remained relatively the same as they got older; 2) President Obama’s election changed the way they perceived themselves as well as how they perceived the way the world sees African American males; and 3) Most participants were positive about their futures and believed that President Obama’s 2 election has increased their likelihood of success. Seven (7) out of (8) eight participants reported that the historical phenomenon had impacted their lives and described how they see a more positive outlook for their future success. INDEX WORDS: 2008 Presidential Election, African American males, African American president, Black Fatherhood, Black males, Black male crisis, Black president, High school males, Obama Effect, Role models 3 THE OBAMA EFFECT ON AFRICAN AMERCAN HIGH SCHOOL MALES by AUNDRA SIMMONS VAUGHN B. S., Georgia Southern College, 1986 M. Ed., Georgia Southern University, 1996 Ed. S., Georgia Southern University, 2007 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2015 4 © 2015 AUNDRA SIMMONS VAUGHN All Rights Reserved 5 THE OBAMA EFFECT ON AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL MALES by AUNDRA SIMMONS VAUGHN Major Professor: Paul M. Brinson Committee: Linda Arthur Sonya Gaither Electronic Version Approved: Spring 2015 6 DEDICATION “This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118: 23-24 First and foremost, I thank God Almighty for His amazing grace, for His Son who died on the cross for my sins, and for His precious gift of the Holy Ghost, who has been a comforter and keeper during this period of my life. I dedicate this dissertation to my wonderful, supportive, loving, and encouraging family who has seen me through the highest and lowest points of my life while I completed this endeavor. Although you wanted to help when you saw me struggling, you did the best thing – you prayed for me. To my husband, Clyde, thank you for helping me to realize that I needed to finish this project, each time I wanted to give up. To Althoney (Mason) Sallins, Jr., my son, who helped with the animals, Max and Oreo; who helped with the housekeeping, and who ate McDonald’s three to four times per week, so that I could work on my dissertation, I love and appreciate you. To my Goddaughter, D. Shaniqua Reed, I am so honored that you are following in my footsteps as a counselor; this gave me strength to continue because I want to be a good role model for you. I love you and am expecting even greater personal and professional successes from you for our next generation. To my father, George E. Simmons, Sr., who has gone to be with the Lord, I thank you for instilling in me the desire learn and to value a good education. To my mother, Beatrice Simmons, thank you for sacrificing so much for your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great- great grandchildren throughout the years to help us to take advantage of opportunities that were not afforded to you. For always believing in me, loving me in spite of myself, 7 and having my back, I thank God for my six sisters, Retta, Margie, Dora, Micki, Faye, and Edie; you are all an inspiration to me. I am so blessed to also have a spiritual family. For your prayers, I thank God for my spiritual leaders and church family, Apostle Dr. Richard Walthour, Jr. and Evangelist Molcie I. Walthour, of True Born Church of Christ Deliverance Center, Inc., and the saints at Miracle Temple in Riceboro, Georgia. To all my friends and colleagues, especially Cassandra, Deborah, Gloria, and Karen, thank you for your encouragement along the way. Everyone, we did it! To God be the glory! 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To Dr. Paul Brinson, my committee chair and Dr. Linda Arthur and Dr. Sonya Gaither, committee members, Thank you seems hardly adequate for the assistance, encouragement, time, shoulder, and expertise that you provided through the dissertation process. I appreciate you staying the course with me and guiding me to this day. Thank you for believing in my research and sharing my passion for educating all students, especially our most vulnerable population, African American males. A special thank you to my niece, Charity Reed, who served as my reference checker. A debt of gratitude is owed to the eight participants of the study, who gave of their time to share their lived experiences. I am a better counselor as a result of working with each of you. Congratulations! On your college enrollment! Finally, I would like to thank the administrators and the support staff of the district that allowed me to conduct this research. 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS….……………………………………………………………..8 LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………….12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................13 Background of the Study .............................................................................16 The "Obama Effect" ………………………………………………….17 The Plight of African American Males ………………………………20 Role Models ………………………………………………………….22 African American Youth and the 2008 Presidential Election ………..23 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................27 Research Question .......................................................................................27 Significance of the Study ............................................................................28 Research Procedures ....................................................................................29 Research Design ....................................................................................29 Sample and Sampling ............................................................................30 Instrumentation ......................................................................................31 Data Collection ......................................................................................31 Data Analysis ........................................................................................32 Limitations ...................................................................................................32 Delimitations ...............................................................................................33 Summary .....................................................................................................33 Defintion of terms………………………………………………………...34 10 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ………………………………………………37 Introduction……………………………………………………………….37 The Obama Effect………………………………………………………...38 The Black Male Crisis…………………………………………………….41 Role Models ................................................................................................46 Role Models for African American Males ............................................50 President Barack Obama as a Role Model from Black Males………..58 Summary………………………………………………………………….65 3 METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................68 Introduction……………………………………………………………….68 Research Question……………………………………………………...…68 Research Design ..........................................................................................69 Participants and Sample ..............................................................................70