Black Immigrants

Annotated Bibliography Worksheet 1. Citation (ASA Style): Benson, Janel E. 2006. "Exploring the Racial Identities of Black Immigrants in the United States." Sociological Forum 21:219-247.

2. What is the primary research question or thesis of this article? The main focus of this study is whether native origin or skin color has more impact in determining the racial identity of black migrants.It examines two racial identity dimensions of racial group identification and racial group consciousness.

3. What are the characteristics of the population studied? How many people, ages, genders, race/ethnicity/nationality, professions etc.? How were these people selected? The main characteristic of the population was that they were classified as blacks which included native born blacks as well as black migrants. 2,454 people were sampled from three cities – Atlanta, Los Angeles and Boston. The population included people from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Africa, Central America and the West Indies. The respondents were chosen from a MSCUI household survey which selected respondents using a multistage, stratified, clustered, area-probability sampling technique.

4. What research methods was employed by the researchers? Was this appropriate for the population and the research question? Were there limitations to this method? Data for this analysis come from the MCSUI household survey3 administered between 1992 and 1994 to a stratified random sample of adults in Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, and Los Angeles.. In the first stage, clusters of housing units, measured as census segments,4 are grouped by selected stratifying characteristics, and then segments are selected with probability proportional to estimated size (PPES) of the segments within the strata. In the second stage, a disproportionate stratified sampling design is used to oversample minority and poverty households. In the final stage, adults age 21 or older are randomly selected from sampled households to be interviewed face-to-face, with a final response rate of approximately 71%. It was appropriate for the population and the research question. The sample does not include foreign born black respondents from the city of Detroit.

5. What were the primary findings of the research? Racial group identity was determined by the assimilation model of incorporation. After a number of years of being exposed to racial discrimination of native born blacks, black migrants came to see skin color as the primary way they are received in the US. Racial group consciousness tends to follow the segmented assimilation model. The meanings blacks attach to their racial identity not only how they are treated because of their skin color but the skills and ideologies they bring with them.

6. Critique this article, discuss method, findings, analysis, writing style, or other elements of the research project. The author states “ These results demonstrate that researchers must look beyond simple measures of racial group identification to fully understand how black migrants are making sense of their racial position in American society.” Also, the author states “With a growing black migrant population, researchers need to focus on collecting data specifically on the reception and experiences of non-European migrants in the U.S. society. We need to survey large samples of non-European migrants and comparative ethnographies of multiple migrant groups before we can fully understand the mechanisms shaping the incorporation of black migrants in the U.S. society.”