Research on cognitive bias explains how our brains are prone to stumble, overlooking key points of data. This article discusses how this phenomenon can help us understand why we often stumble in assessing the state of campus race relations, overlooking ways that White students self-segregate. In contrast, students of color have high rates of…

For a suburban area of Washington, D.C., Southern Maryland has remained unusually "Southern." Its rolling tobacco fields, former slave quarters and lonesome two-lane roads through piney woods seem more reminiscent of the Deep South than the nation's capital. So, too, have its attitudes on race. That became evident on Dec. 6, 2004, when…

This article contributes to one's historical understanding of student experience in general, and more particularly, to one's understanding of developing cross-group relationships within desegregated schools over the second half of the twentieth century. The article draws from a broader study that examines students' evolving relationships within a…

Pi Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. at Morgan State University made a significant contribution to the identity construction of college-educated African American men in the state of Maryland. The initiates of Pi Chapter constructed identities that allowed the members to see themselves as participants in mainstream American society as…

This paper examines student cross-group relationships in a comprehensive high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, between 1985 and 2000. The findings of this research, situated at the intersections of three lenses of inquiry--oral historical analysis, ethnography, and critical studies--bring to light how institutional norms, broader demographic…

While white residents of antebellum Boston and New Haven forcefully opposed the education of black residents, their counterparts in slaveholding Baltimore did little to resist the establishment of African American schools. Such discrepancies, Hilary Moss argues, suggest that white opposition to black education was not a foregone conclusion.…

This monograph describes the major aspects involved in the desegregation of Dorchester County's schools and assesses the desegregation process to determine those factors which made the transition possible without violence or disruption to the educational system. The plan to desegregate the entire school system consisted of the reassignment of…

This paper presents the result of a statewide survey conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Maryland for the Governor's Task Force on Extremism and Violence. The Task Force was commissioned in response to an increased number of reported incidents associated with racial, ethnic, or religious bigotry. The survey was intended to…

This new plan is the result of an examination of previous efforts by the State of Maryland to achieve a more representative racial balance in Maryland's public institutions of higher education. It is intended to: (1) eliminate vestiges of former racial dualism in Maryland's public higher education institutions; (2) increase minority and other-race…

A study was conducted to determine the effects on school employees in Rockville, Maryland, of a black experience and culture in-service training program. The study gathered data on school employees before and after enrollment in the course in order to measure gains in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Tables show program participants' change in…

Problems in measuring the attitudes of whites toward blacks have included: (1) Lack of contemporary content in existing measures; (2) Difficulty of determining scale validity; and, (3) The strong social reinforcement for being "tolerant" toward blacks making the assessment of "true" racial attitudes more difficult. The…

The attitudes of 1114 white university students toward blacks were compared by sex, using the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS). The SAS contains 10 personal or social situations where race might be a variable in reacting to the situations. For each situation, ten bipolar Semantic Differential scales were written. The SAS was administered…

The idea for the Intergroup Dialogue as Pedagogy Across the Curriculum (INTERACT) Pilot Project emerged, quite organically, from the cross-pollination of two major initiatives of the Office of Human Relations Programs (OHRP), the equity compliance and multicultural education arm of the Office of the President at the University of Maryland, College…

This packet of resource materials was compiled to help teachers infuse the study of Afro-American history and culture into the curriculum throughout the school year. The packet contains both informational materials and sample activities. In order to assist teachers in studying the Afro-American experience in their own communities, special emphasis…

The football program at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville (Maryland), illustrates ways in which a sports program can build unity and racial tolerance among students. The shared team effort carries over into schoolwork and life outside of school. (SLD)