The Orange and the Black: Diversity in the Arrival and Assimilation Patterns of Black Undergraduates at Princeton University

Abstract

This thesis investigates patterns of identity formation amongst Black undergraduates at Princeton University to ascertain distinctions in experiences of social integration on campus based on Black identity. I contrast insights gained from African American students with those of first and second-generation African or Afro-Caribbean undergraduates to build upon theories elevated minority status in addition to theories of linked fate to evaluate social distancing.

Based on patterns derived from my Junior Project—specifically connections established between interview findings and Bourdieusian frameworks of capital exchange—my thesis attempts to more directly explore the way in which the education history of Black applicants informs their social experience at elite post-secondary institutions, namely Princeton University.

My research presents two principal queries: 1) what factors account for the overrepresentation of Black immigrants in the undergraduate population at Princeton University—wherein the term “Black immigrants” refers to first- or second-generation Black immigrants from African or the Caribbean? And 2) to what extent do differential patterns of adjustment exist within the Black undergraduate population based on ethnic background and nativity?