Renowned economist and Duke University Professor Dr. William “Sandy” Darity Jr. co-authored a study that shows negative racial stereotypes have little to no impact on the performance of Black students who attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, the study relied on data from lab experiments at a Texas-based HBCU that looked specifically at how negative stereotypes – including the belief that Black people are less intelligent than their white counterparts – affected students’ performance.