The Myth of the Black Townie

The Myth of the Black Townie

Campus--Community, Education--Higher--Parkland College, Education--Higher--University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Economy, Poverty, Community, Racism, Research and Data, Library-Archive-Museum, History

This inquiry, based on qualitative data obtained from both participant interviews and my own personal observations, seeks to understand the relationship between African American students of Parkland College, the University of Illinois, and similarly aged, non-enrolled members of the Champaign Urbana community. The findings of this investigation suggest that there is often a hostile relationship between African Americans of these diverse populations. The research was based on the popular usage of the derogatory term "townie" to define an uneducaed, lower class African American who was born and raised in the area. Although there might be several viable explanations, my data seems to confirm that cleavages along lines of economics and education were the main source of conflict.

Alana Mbanza

IDEALS: University of Illinois

2008

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