Educational Debt, Disenfranchisement Factors in African-American Male Achievement Gap - Higher Education: I grew up in a church whose pastor had a heart for seeking and saving Black men. Many of my best friends graduated from Morehouse College, a school dedicated to the same. So as long as I can remember, I have heard about and fully believed in the importance of surrounding and supporting and ensuring the success of Black men. When I met Arlethia Perry-Johnson, program director of the University System of Georgia’s African-American Male Initiative at the program’s 10th anniversary conference last month, I immediately identified with her mission and supported the initiative’s aim.
Some things that I found interesting from the conference include the fact that Black males largely attribute their success to mothers, friends/life partners. For our Black men, it is that familiar support that they say gets them through to success, but, for their White counterparts, the same is often attributed to the support of academic advisers.
