Bonds of Brotherhood: Emotional and Social Support among College Black Men

This article draws on two years of observation to analyze the ways in which a group of black men promoted, ritualized, enforced, and enacted brotherhood on a predominantly white campus. These men utilized the concept of brotherhood to unite those who shared a marginalized status. The notion of brotherhood enabled the men to express their emotions, violating some of the dominant cultural tenets of manhood. Although black men face many obstacles in white-dominated middle-class social worlds, these men did not passively accept those troubles; they came together and collectively created a brotherhood to help them survive and succeed.