By critically examining the legal, institutional, and social factors that prohibit or promote students' college choices, this Volume undermines the notion that African American students and their families are opposed to formal education, and reveals structural barriers which they face in accessing elite institutions. For African American students, unequal education is rooted in the history in the legacy of slavery and of the history of institutional and structural racism in United States. The long legacy of racism in education cannot be dismissed when reflecting on the college choice experiences of African American students made today. Authors uniquely apply Critical Race Theory (CRT) to analyse the college selection process of high achieving African American students and, highlight the similarities and differences within an impressive group of students, therefore challenging the deficit notions of African American students as perpetual under-achievers. They also show that contrary to the general assumption, African American parents are inclined towards providing their sons and daughters higher education at the elite institutes of US. The decision is often influenced by analysis of factors including the allocation of school resources, parental attitudes, university recruitment, campus outreach, and affordability. The issues of discrimination on the grounds of race, class, and gender often plays a vital role in decision making process. This text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, professionals and policy makers in the field of Race & Ethnicity in Higher Education, Sociology of Education, Equality & Human Rights, and African American Studies.

Abriendo Puertas, Cerrando Heridas (Opening Doors, Closing Wounds): Latinas/os Finding Work-Life Balance in Academia is the newest book in the series on balancing work and life in the academy from Information Age Publishing. This volume focuses on the experiences of Latina/o students, professors, and staff/administrators in higher education and documents their testimonios of achieving a sense of balance between their personal and professional lives. In the face of many challenges they are scattered across the country, are often working in isolation of each other and must find ways to develop their own networks, support structures, and spaces where they can share their wisdom, strategize, and forge alliances to ensure collective The book focuses on Latinas/os in colleges of education, since many of them carry the important mission to prepare new teachers, and research new pedagogies that have the power of improving and transforming education. Following the format of the work-life balance book series, this volume contains autoethnographical testimonios in its methodological approach. This volume addresses three very important guiding questions (1) What are the existing structures that isolate/discriminate against Latinas/os in higher education? (2) How can Latinas/os disrupt these to achieve work-life balance? And, (3) Based on their experiences, what are the transformative ideologies regarding Latinas/os seeking work-life balance?

Starting first as a poet, Gloria M. Rodriguez wrote many poems about memories of her parents' love for each other and their family. The poems developed into short stories of their challenges brought about by war and why they came to finally make their home in the United States after the Spanish Civil War. After some encouragement from many friends and finally a request from a niece, she gathered all the memories and notes made through the years and put them into true chronological order so as to tell a story of truth and what love and family came to mean between two people caught in life's constant challenges. Notes and comments came from conversations with her parents through their years together and information acquired from various family members. Along with maps showing the paths taken by her parents, then researching and taking them herself to see what it must have been like to exit war torn Spain in 1938, it helped to tell a true story with very little fantasy. Gloria tries to paint a picture of culture from two distinct continents during the years of 1913 to 1940 and beyond until their deaths. The story reveals customs of its times and the nonsense of war brought about by frustration, politics and the economy during this period. Above all, it has shown true love can conquer all of life's challenges. History has revealed the ugly truth of what happened during this period, but this true story tells the love two people had during this period and until their deaths.

Como poeta Gloria M. Rodríguez empezó escribiendo poemas acerca del amor que sus padres se tenían uno al otro y a su familia. Estos poemas se convirtieron en historias cortas de los desafíos que pasaron durante la guerra y el porque ellos finalmente decidieron formar su hogar en los Estados Unidos después de la guerra civil de España. Después de que muchos amigos le sugirieron y finalmente por una súplica de una sobrina. Gloria recogió todas las memorias y notas adquiridas durante los años. Puso en orden exacto cronológico para contar una historia de verdad en que el amor de la familia puede vencer todos los desafíos de la vida. Notas y comentarios vinieron desde conversaciones con sus padres de sus años juntos y información obtenido de varios miembros de la familia. Con mapas enseñando los caminos tomados por sus padres, luego investigando y tomándolos ella sola para ver como debía haber sido para salir de la lucha en España en1938, se ayudó para contar una historia de verdad con mínimo de fantasía. Gloria hace lo posible para pintar una imagen de la cultura de dos distintos continentes durante los años 1913 hasta 1940 y más allá hasta sus fallecimientos. La historia enseña costumbres del tiempo y la tontería de la guerra traído por frustración, cosas políticas y la economía durante esta época. Encima de todo, enseña el amor verdadero que puede conquistar todos los desafíos de la vida. La historia ha enseñado lo terrible y negativo que paso en esta época. Pero, esta historia de verdad, habla del amor que dos personas tenían durante esta época hasta sus fallecimientos.