Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria By Beverly Daniel Tatum

In reading the article, “Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria”, by Beverly Daniel Tatum, she expresses her thoughts and findings on why kids of the same race tend to hang out more with each other than with kids of the other races. She first goes on to talk about how if you walk into any racially mixed high school cafeteria, you inevitably find that kids with the same race are sitting together (375). She proceeds to say that is doesn’t always start there. She begins to be curious of when racial grouping begins. Tatum goes on to explain that one factor of racial grouping is puberty. She proceeds to talk about how her ten-year-old black son doesn’t identify himself as a “black boy”. She wonders when he becomes older if

The two different ethnic groups they chose were, Caucasian and African American. At the beginning of the article Chapman and Mullis defined what their definition of coping with stress was. They then moved into their purpose of their research, which then lead to their “buffering hypothesis” (153). Their “buffering hypothesis” was that, “Racial differences in use of the coping strategies of spiritual, family, and close friend support, are used more frequently for African American adolescents than for Caucasian adolescents” (153). After talking about their hypothesis, they proceeded to discuss the 12 different coping strategies out there such as, diversions, self-reliance, spiritual support, close friends, professional support, demanding activities, family, relaxation, ventilating feelings, humor, social support and avoidance strategies. They then briefly deliberated if there are different strategies for children of younger ages. Chapman and Mullis discuss the method of how they did their research. They chose their participants through a random sample of 361 middle school and high school students in the grades 7-12 (154). They briefly conversed on the measures that were taken for the study. Chapman and Mullis then proceeded

Both sources agree that in fact, race takes a toll on how it specifically effects the children. In Tatum’s article she highlights a part of when adolescence start to “sit together in the cafeteria” (375), it is when they get offended due to the color of their skin. She had addressed the definition of what being “black” really is and how that shouldn’t effect growing up in a very diverse school. Inevitably, it does. In Chapman and Mullis’s article they express the coping styles of adolescence, which one mechanism they are drawn to is close friends. In both Tatum and Chapman/Mullis’s articles, state that there is comfort in seeking friendship based on similar experiences. Chapman and Mullis explain, “Social support strategies are more common among African Americans” (157). By giving the experiences of the young black adolescence youth, Tatum is trying to convey this exact same