Culturally Relevant Messaging and the Political Socialization of HBCU Students

This project examines the relationship between how political issues are identified, framed, and disseminated to subsequently influence the political interest and participation of Black students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The project develops a profile of political attitudes developed by Black college students, examines indicators of political behavior of young Black students, and assesses the efficacy of a campus social media contest for fostering political engagement of Black college students.

The findings have practical application for the development of culturally relevant civics education curricula, new tactics for engaging Black adolescents in politics, insights about digital citizenship, and the ways in which social media are used to produce and distribute micro-targeted culturally relevant political messages.

This research extends Digital Political Socialization Theory (DPST) to advance understanding of the political socialization of college youth. Specifically, the project assesses how political issues are identified, framed, and disseminated to subsequently influence the political interest and participation of Black students, The research design compares Black students at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to Black students at one non-HBCU university in Florida.

The multi-method project relies on focus groups, interviews, and a video contest, with 20 students at each study site participating over a 4-6 week period of time. The research advances knowledge and understanding of Black college youth’s individual and group attitudes, preference formation and expression and, more broadly, political behavior.

This project is supported by the Accountable Institutions Program and the SBE Science of Broadening Participation Program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.