Fred A. Bonner II, Ed.D., endowed chair in educational leadership in the Whitlowe R. Green College of Education at Prairie View A&M University, knows his success story as a Black man in America is a rare one.
So, the Jefferson, Texas native published “Academically Gifted African American Male College Students” to chronicle his journey. With the hopes of providing a roadmap for other Black men and parents raising Black boys, the book stands out amid current literature and media that are more prone to share the failures of and challenges facing Blacks in America.
Dr. Bonner has long been interested in gifted Black males, in particular, himself being one with his notable academic and professional success. “I have always been fascinated by academically gifted, talented and creative African Americans — especially how our resilience, resolve, and intellectual prowess has catapulted us from cotton fields to the White House,” he said.
Bonner is the founding executive director and chief scientist of the Minority Achievement, Creativity and High-Ability Center at PVAMU. Previously, he served as the Samuel DeWitt Proctor endowed chair in education at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University.
An expert in the field of diversity in education for more than 25 years, Bonner is the author of “Building on Resilience: Models and Frameworks of Black Male Success Across the P-20 Pipeline,” which highlights the experiences of academically gifted Black males from preschool through post-college.
“Black males are the most understudied, undertheorized and undervalued populations within and outside our educational contexts,” Bonner said. “In addition, when we look at achievement levels in the P-20 school context, our Black males are often at the lowest levels of proficiency.”
In his own pursuit of excellence, Bonner joined PVAMU faculty to advance research for and about African Americans, especially Black cultural assets like resilience.
“Black males are the most understudied, undertheorized and undervalued populations within and outside our educational contexts.”
“Black males are the most understudied, undertheorized and undervalued populations within and outside our educational contexts.”
“Many Black males are high-achieving, high-performing and academically gifted,” said Bonner, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the University of North Texas, a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from Baylor University, and an Ed.D. in higher education administration and college teaching from the University of Arkansas. “Yet, the narrative that is typically shared about this population in schools is a ‘deficit’ narrative that talks about failures, non-achievement, and scholastic decline as opposed to intellectual capital and scholarly acumen – an ‘asset’ narrative.”
He also admits he wonders what his life would look like if he had chosen differently. He decided to attend UNT, a predominantly white institution, over a full-ride at Jackson State University, or PVAMU, to follow in his parents’ footsteps. “My experiences left me wanting to know more about other African American males who, too, had to make decisions about college and the college-going process,” he said.
Bonner’s inspiration behind his passion for success comes from his parents. His mother was a high school valedictorian, going on to coach girls’ championship teams in basketball and track at the all-Black high school in his hometown.
His father was the first Black athletic director in East Texas. “For me, they were the representation of ‘holistic giftedness’—they were academically talented, but both possessed gifts and talents in sports, as well as in their interpersonal communication—viewed as mother and father to legions of their students.”
To this day, they are his role models. Even now, he will occasionally comes across a newspaper article or commentary about his father’s role in shaping athletics, especially for Black males in East Texas.
He recently attended a banquet ceremony where his mother was inducted into the Prairie View Interscholastic League Hall of Fame for her contributions to women’s state championship track teams.
Of course, Bonner himself has many accolades and awards under his belt, including the American Association for Higher Education Black Caucus Dissertation Award and the Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundation’s Dissertation of the Year Award from the University of Arkansas College of Education.
At Prairie View A&M, Bonner hopes to use his gifts to build an “ebony tower” of gifted Blacks. One that amplifies “the intellectual prowess that resides in the African American community that often goes unnoticed and unseen because it is unexpected.”