THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CHEMISTS

Like other race/ethnic groups, the African American population is not randomly distributed across the nation. Historically the population has been concentrated in the South. Therefore, it is not surprising that 70% of the interviewees were born in the South, while 23% had their origins in the Midwest, followed by the Northeast with 9% none were born in the West (Fig. 2.1). In general, survey data confirm these geographic distributions. It was noteworthy that there has been a decline 

Beyond Small Numbers Voices of African American PhD Chemists 7 0 

In comparison to the interviewees region of birth, a considerably smaller portion of the them resided in the South at the time of the interviews (Fig. 2.3). In fact, only slightly more than half of the interviewees reside in the South, followed by the Midwest (25%), Northeast (16%) and West (9%). While the general regional distribution pattern remains, it is clear that the East and particularly the West reflect greater percentage shares than was the case for birth regions. Opportunity stmctures 

One Cohort II interviewee from the Midwest remarked I was never interested in applying for jobs in the Midwest. I wanted to be somewhere... warm and near the ocean. In contrast, a Cohort IV interviewee from the East commented I didn t want to go to the Midwest where I thought I was going to encounter racial prejudice. For most interviewees, however, opportunity seemed to be the deciding factor in determining their current residence. 

Data in Table 2.1 show the parental attainment levels for interviewees. Approximately two-fifths of both mothers and fathers of the interviewees were not high school graduates. Three of the Cohort III interviewees reported that their parents were illiterate or functionally illiterate. 

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