Persistence & Involvement Reconsidered: A Phenomenology of African American Men Who Make A Difference

The purpose of this book is to facilitate a better understanding of how socially responsible leadership is experienced by African American men. Employing the interpretive tradition of phenomenology, and building on college persistence, involvement, and leadership theories, the researcher asked undergraduates what does making a difference mean and what is the result? Informants ascribed meanings to informal, individual en-counters, but attributed outcomes to formal, group affiliations, and finally recommended formal, individual and community interventions. Furthermore, informants supported a non-positional, relational outlook on leadership and credited those relationships with persistence. For these men, making a difference was structured by dialogue that developed a mindset to enable or enact positive role modeling and mentoring for other Black men. Thus, others are called to facilitate and further research cross cultural relationships.