Definition, Identification, Identity, and Culture: A Unique Alchemy Impacting the Success of Gifted African American Millennial Males in School

This article focuses on the underrepresentation of African American males in gifted and talented programs, and offers a number of key recommendations to practitioners and researchers who seek viable strategies to circumvent this problem. Beyond the focus on underrepresentation, several additional topics for discussion are excogitated to provide a clear perspective on the challenges these students experience in school; namely, (a) definitions of giftedness, (b) identity development, (c) student Millennial culture, and (d) how gifted African American Millennial males in school contexts are treated. Additionally, data collected from a recent study of a large Midwestern school district will be presented to further highlight the topics under investigation.