Black students represent the highest percentage of college students with noncompetitive academic grade point averages per class level and at time of graduation. This study served as a response to this problem and a call in the literature to learn more about the experiences of high achieving Black college students who were actively involved in their communities. Using W. E. B. Du Bois‘ (1909/1989) concept of double consciousness, family systems theory, and a salutogenic model as conceptual frameworks, this study examined the influences of individual and collective sociocultural identities on the academic achievements and community involvements of ten Black alumni who attended a predominantly White institution between the years of 1985 and 2008.

Research methodologies were guided by ethnographic and postmodern frameworks. Face-to-face open-ended life history interviews were conducted with ten Black alumni who were former recipients of university awards give to students based upon academic achievement and community involvement. Based upon the literature and interview observations, five analytical threads (e.g., artifacts and symbols, double consciousness, family/relationships/community, time, and silence) of commonality were identified to begin the analysis of telling narrative transcripts. Afterwards, syntagmatic narrative analysis and domain-taxonomy analysis were conducted with transcript text of four alumni telling narratives. Analytical terms and semantic relationships identified within transcript data suggested five cultural domains of (1) double consciousness, (2) interpersonal relationships, (3) success, (4) campus involvement, and (5) environment to have had positive impacts on the high academic achievement of the four alumni telling narratives. A comparative and contrastive analysis of these findings against the remaining six alumni narratives suggested that out of the five cultural domains, double consciousness proved to be existent among the experiences of all ten Black alumni. This suggests that the presence and ability to manage double consciousness identities, whether positive or negative, were a part of the experiences of Black high academic achievers who were actively involved in their community. A compiled list of advice Black alumni wanted to share with current and future Black students was created. Implications for students, faculty, and university administrators are presented. Recommendations for further research are provided.