This qualitative study examines the Black college tours implemented at Inkster High School which exposed high school students to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) throughout the midwest, south, and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. While there is substantial grey literature that describes the Black college tour experience, there is limited empirical research which defines Black college tours, describes how they are designed and implemented, and how they inform the college choice process for participating students. I conducted a phenomenological case study comprised of interviews and document analysis to summarize the historic context of the Inkster High School Black college tour and synthesized the experience of teachers, students, and parent volunteers who participated in the tours over thirty-two years. I learned Black college tours—as a cultural artifact—helped students navigate the college choice process and shaped their ongoing perspective about HBCUs. Black college tours and similar experiences hold significance for former students, parents, and teachers who experienced school closures and grapple with institutional mourning. This study contributes an example of Black student college choice (Chapman et al., 2020) and draws from community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) and fugitive pedagogy (Givens, 2021) to situate Black college tours within existing literature on college choice. The study further acknowledges how a small predominantly Black local school district partnered with community to provide college access programming for its students.
Read
