#StoryTellingAsResistance

The article “What It’s Like Being Black at a Predominantly White School”  written by Stephanie Tate, explains her transition from high school to college and the challenges that she has faced in college being a person of color. Stephanie Tate is a young African American woman who at the time the article was written attended North Carolina State University, a predominantly White university (PWI). From her article, we can see that she was very torn on attending a PWI because coming from a mostly white Christian school she wanted to explore her options at going to a school where she was surrounded by people more like her.

The purpose of this article was to share her story and her experiences with other people her age. I believe that her message was meant to be told to both POC and also white college-aged students. I feel like one of the messages of her article was to show other POC who were finding themselves in situations similar to her when trying to decide on a college, that these were the things that they may have to expect. But at the same time, she is trying to show that it is still possible. For example, at the end of her article, she describes that even through the hardships she faced at her PWI, she still holds that, At my PWI I have found a community of scholars who look like me, allies willing to stand in the gap, and a plethora of love. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” (Tate, Para. 8)  She is also speaking to white students at Universities to tell them that POC students are not being irrational and “crybabies” for having these concerns; they often face real discrimination and need to be treated better by their white peers. This can be seen in her multiple examples of discrimination on her campus. For example, Tate describes the response POC students received from White students on Yik Yak about their police brutality protests; these students called the POC students “nuisances and “cry babies” for protesting (Tate, Para. 5) 

The intended audience for this article is mostly for students who are currently in the process of deciding where they want to go to school. Tate’s story is about how she chose between a PWI and an HBCU and how that played out for her. SHe wants to speak to a younger audience that is also in the process of making that decision. It is for this same reason that she is writing this article in Teen Vogue as opposed to her college newspaper or even any other adult media outlet. She put this piece in Teen vogue because it will be seen by her target audience of teens most likely making the decision where they want to go to college. This medium is effective for conveying her message because it limits her audience down to people who would struggle to make her same decisions and could benefit from her insights.

WorksCitedTate, Stephanie. “What It’s Really Like to Be Black at a Predominantly White School.” Teen Vogue, Teen Vogue, 22 Feb. 2017, http://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-its-like-to-be-black-at-pwi.