Abstract
The life and experiences of Dr. Edward A. Bouchet, the first African-American to receive a doctorate from Yale in 1876, are used to model features of the African-American doctoral experience. Bouchet’s early years and educational experiences are discussed to draw references to contemporary research on prior socialization toward doctoral degree completion. His experiences during doctoral study are highlighted to develop conclusions about literature regarding doctoral student socialization frameworks as they relate to the current experiences of African-American students. Furthermore, Bouchet’s life after the doctorate characterizes many issues associated with challenges faced by African-American doctoral degree completers and their postdoctoral degree completion experiences.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The terms African-American, Black, and Negro are used interchangeably throughout this work to discuss statistical information and/or experiences, consistent with the way the cited sources have identified this cultural group. These identities are aligned with the following 2010 United States Census Brief racial definition, “Black or African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa” (Humes et al. 2011).
References
Allen, W. R. (1985). Black student, white campus: structural, interpersonal, and psychological correlates of success. The Journal of Negro Education, 54, 134–150.
Allen, W. R. (1992). The color of success: African-American college student outcomes at predominantly White and historically Black public colleges and universities. Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), 26–42.
Anderson, E. F., & Hrabowski, F. A. (1977). Graduate school success of Black students from White colleges and Black colleges. Journal of Higher Education, 48(3), 294–303.
Anderson, J. D. (2002). Race in American higher education: Historical perspectives on current conditions. In W. A. Smith, P. G. Altbach, & K. Lomotey (Eds.), The racial crisis in American higher education: Continuing challenges for the twenty-first century (revised edition) (pp. 3–21). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Astin, A. W. (1977). Four critical years. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Astin, A. W. (1982). Minorities in American higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Attiyeh, G. M. (1999). Determinants of persistence of graduate students in Ph.D. programs (RR-99-04, GREB-95-18R). Princeton: Educational Testing Service.
Baird, L. (1990). Disciplines and doctorates: the relationships between program characteristics and the duration of doctoral study. Research in Higher Education, 31(4), 369–385.
Bechtel, H. K. (2002). Edward Alexander Bouchet: The master teacher and educator. In Ronald E. Mickens (Ed.), Edward Bouchet: The first African American doctorate (pp. 45–70). Singapore: World Scientific.
Bowen, W. G., & Rudenstine, N. L. (1992). In pursuit of the Ph.D. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Boyd, W. M. (1977). Black undergraduates succeed in white colleges. Educational Record, 58(3), 309–315.
Brazziel, M. E., & Brazziel, W. F. (1987). Impact of support for graduate study on program completion of Black doctorate recipients. The Journal of Negro Education, 56(2), 145–151.
Brazziel, W. F. (1983). Baccalaureate college origins of Black doctorate recipients. The Journal of Negro Education, 52(2), 102–109.
Brown, S. V. (1988). Increasing minority faculty: An elusive goal (MGE-88-01). Princeton: Educational Testing Service.
Delgado Bernal, D. (2002). Critical race theory, Latino critical theory, and critical raced-gendered epistemologies: recognizing students of color as holders and creators of knowledge. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 105–126.
Dixson, A. D., & Rousseau, C. K. (2005). And we are still not saved: critical race theory ten years later. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 7–27.
Gardner, S. K. (2008). The development of doctoral students: phases of challenges and support. Ashe Higher Education Report, 34(6), 1–126.
Gasman, M., Gerstl-Pepin, C., Anderson-Thompkins, S., Rasheed, L., & Hathaway, K. (2004). Negotiating power, developing trust: transgressing race and status in the academy. Teachers College Record, 106(4), 689–715.
Gasman, M., Hirschfield, A., & Vultaggio, J. (2008). “Difficult yet rewarding”: the experiences of African American graduate students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 1(2), 126–138.
Gasman, M., & Tudico, C. (2009). Historically Black colleges and universities: triumphs, troubles, and taboos. New York: Palgrave.
Girves, J. E., & Wemmerus, V. (1988). Developing models of graduate student degree progress. The Journal of Higher Education, 59(2), 163–189. doi:10.2307/1981691.
Golde, C. (1998). Beginning graduate school: explaining first-year doctoral attrition. New Directions for Higher Education, 101, 55–64.
Golde, C. M., & Walker, G. E. (Eds.). (2006). Envisioning the future of doctoral education: preparing stewards of the discipline—Carnegie essays on the doctorate (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Green, L., & Scott, L. (2003). Journey to Ph.D.: how to navigate the process as African Americans. Sterling: Stylus.
Groen, J. A., Nagowski, M. P., & Ehrenberg, R. G. (2004). PhD attainment of graduates of selective private academic institutions [Electronic version]. Education Finance and Policy, 2(1), 100–110.
Gumport, P. (2005). Graduate education research: interdependence and strain. In Philip G. Altbach, Robert O. Berdahl, & Patricia Gumport (Eds.), American higher education in the twenty-first century: social political and economic challenges (pp. 425–461). Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Humes, K.R., Jones, N.A., and Ramirez, R.R. (2011). Overview of race and Hispanic origin (C2010BR02). Retrieved May 25, 2012 http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf.
Karabel, J. (2005). The chosen: the hidden history of admission and exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.
King, J. E., & American Educational Research Association. Commission on Research in Black Education. (2005). Black education : a transformative research and action agenda for the new century. Mahwah: Published for the American Educational Research Association by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ladson-Billings, G. J. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97, 47–68.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1999). Just what is critical race theory, and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? In L. Parker, D. Deyhle, & S. Villenas (Eds.), Race is … race isn’t: critical race theory and qualitative studies in education (pp. 7–30). Boulder: Westview Press.
Lipschutz, S.S. (1993, Winter). Enhancing success in doctoral education: from policy to practice. In L. Baird (Ed.), Increasing graduate student retention and degree attainment (pp. 69-80). New Directions for Institutional Research, No. 80, 69-80
Lovitts, B. E. (2001). Leaving the ivory tower: the causes and consequences of departure from doctoral study. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Mickens, R. E. (Ed.). (2002). Edward Bouchet: The first African American doctorate. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
Moses, Y. T. (1994). Quality, excellence and diversity. New Directions for Institutional Research, 81, 9–20.
National Research Council. (1995). Summary report 1995: doctorate Recipients from United States universities. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2012). Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2012. Special Report NSF 14-305.
Nettles, M. T., & Millett, C. M. (2006). Three magic letters: getting to Ph.D. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Patton, C. (2002). Early African American presence in New Haven and Yale University. In Ronald E. Mickens (Ed.), Edward Bouchet: The first African American doctorate (pp. 1–18). Singapore: World Scientific.
Pauley, R., Cunningham, M., & Toth, P. (1999). Doctoral student attrition and retention: a study of a non-traditional Ed.D. program. Journal of College Student Retention, 1(3), 225–238.
Perna, L., Lundy-Wagner, V., Drezner, N. D., Gasman, M., Yoon, S., Enakshi, B., & Gary, S. (2010). The contribution of HBCUs to the preparation of African American women for STEM careers: a case study. Research in Higher Education, 50(1), 1–23.
Sibulkin, A. E., & Butler, J. S. (2011). Diverse colleges of origin of African American doctoral recipients, 2001–2005: historically black colleges and universities and beyond. Research in Higher Education, 52, 830–852. doi:10.1007/s11162-011-9220-9.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African-Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 797–811.
Taylor, E., & Antony, J. S. (2000). Stereotype threat reduction and wise schooling: toward the successful socialization of African American doctoral students in education. Journal of Negro Education, 69(3), 184–198.
Thomas, G. E. (1981). Black students in higher education: conditions and experiences in the 1970s. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Thurgood, L., Golladay, M. J., & Hill, S. T. (2006). U.S. doctorates in the 20th century (NSF 06-319). Arlington: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics.
Walker, G. E., Golde, C. M., Jones, L., Bueschel, A. C., & Hutchings, P. (2008). The formation of scholars: rethinking doctoral education for the twenty-first century (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Wendler, C., Bridgeman, B., Cline, F., Millett, C., Rock, J., Bell, N., & McAllister, P. (2010). The path forward: the future of graduate education in the United States. Princeton: Educational Testing Service.
Willie, C. V., Grady, M. K., & Hope, R. O. (1991). African-Americans and the doctoral experience. New York: Teachers College Press.
Winkle-Wagner, R., St. John, E.P. & Bowman, P.J. (Eds.) (2012). Expanding postsecondary opportunity for underrepresented students: Theory and practice of academic capital formation. Readings on equal education, 26. New York, NY: AMS Press Inc
Wolf-Wendel, L. E. (1998). Models of excellence: the baccalaureate origins of successful European American women, African American women and Latinas. Journal of Higher Education, 69(2), 144–172.
Wolf-Wendel, L., Baker, B. D., Twombly, S., Tollefson, M., & Mahlios, M. (2006). Who’s teaching the teachers? Evidence from the national survey of postsecondary faculty and the survey of earned doctorates. American Journal of Education, 112(2), 273–300.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Drs. Michelle D. Nearon and Curis L. Patton, Co-Chairs of the Yale-Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut, for reviewing iterations of this manuscript and sharing thoughtful insights and suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Felder, P.P. Edward A. Bouchet: A Model for Understanding African Americans and Their Doctoral Experience. J Afr Am St 19, 3–17 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-014-9283-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-014-9283-8