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The Myth of Black Female Exceptionalism
American Greatness ^ | August 11, 2026 | Lipton Matthews

Posted on 08/11/2026 5:03:35 AM PDT by Red Badger

Jasmine Crockett recently repeated a familiar talking point: that black women are the most educated demographic in America. However, this false claim is not supported by the data. Yet it continues to circulate in political discourse because it serves a psychological need rather than an empirical one. According to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, Asian and white women hold bachelor’s degrees at higher rates than black women. Hence, black women are not the most educated group in the country. The statistic that black women are the most educated relies on selective interpretations of enrollment data among narrow age cohorts. It does not reflect overall degree attainment. But the media and political class refuse to correct this error because they are afraid of offending a powerful voting bloc.

This indulgence does not help black women. It gives them an inflated sense of their own standing. When you tell a group they are the best, they begin to believe it. They begin to expect rewards and recognition that their actual qualifications do not command. This is delusion, rather than empowerment. And delusion is a poor foundation for economic success.

Black women are exceptional only in comparison to black men. Thirty-eight percent of black women hold a college degree. Twenty-six percent of black men hold one. That gap is real. But it is a narrow achievement. Historically, black women have had lower unemployment rates than black men, with 1987 and 1998 being notable exceptions. Outperforming black men is not the same as outperforming the broader population. It is a low bar. Celebrating it as a major victory only obscures how far black women lag behind other groups in income, wealth, and occupational prestige.

Furthermore, the degrees black women earn are not evenly distributed across high-value fields. Black students are less likely to be represented in high-paying STEM majors. Black women disproportionately graduate with degrees in sociology, social work, and health administration services. These credentials do not command the same premiums in the labor market as engineering or computer science. A sociology degree does not make you competitive in a global economy. It makes you dependent on institutions that value compliance over output. The labor market does not reward good intentions. It rewards specialized skills. Black women have fewer of those skills than their Asian and white counterparts. This disparity is reflected in wage data and employment patterns.

Many black women are now furious because the Trump administration is downsizing the federal government and clamping down on DEI initiatives. They see these moves as attacks on their livelihood. They are correct that these policies will cost them jobs. But they are wrong to frame this as an injustice. Working for the government is often an indication that you lack specific skills the market values. Federal employment is a shelter from competition. When that subsidy ends, the protected are exposed.

Furthermore, the public sector is less productive than the private sector. The Bureau of Labor Statistics used to provide productivity metrics for the private sector until this practice was discontinued in 1994. Up until that time, the government consistently trailed private industry. Government work prioritizes process over results and rewards longevity over performance. Black women have been major beneficiaries of this system. They have filled administrative and compliance roles that would not exist in a leaner, more competitive environment. This is not a testament to their talent. It is a testament to their positioning within a bloated bureaucracy.

Similarly, a study by Jason Richwine shows that government workers work three fewer hours per week than private sector employees and one fewer month per year than their private sector counterparts. So, if black women are as talented as their advocates claim, why have they not made the federal government more productive? Why has the administrative state remained sluggish and inefficient despite decades of black female presence in its ranks? The answer is simple. The talent was never there. The narrative was the product of political convenience, not objective performance.

If black women truly possess the extraordinary capabilities attributed to them, they should have no problem optimizing their expertise in the private sector. The private sector rewards results. It does not care about historical grievances. It cares about output. If black women can deliver that output, they will thrive. If they cannot, they will struggle. The current panic over federal layoffs and DEI rollbacks suggests that many black women are not confident in their ability to compete without protective barriers. They should be. But they are not. And that silence speaks louder than any rallying cry.

The truth is uncomfortable. Black women are not the most educated demographic. They have been sheltered by government employment and protected by corporate diversity mandates. Those shelters are now collapsing. Instead of demanding that the world change to accommodate their inflated self-image, black women should ask themselves why they cannot compete in the open market. The answer is not racism. The answer is skill. Or rather, the lack of it. That is the conversation no one wants to have. But it is the only one that matters.

This brings us to the final piece of the puzzle. For some time now, Christopher Rufo has been publishing features exposing black women in academia who commit fraud. Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard, was forced to resign after Rufo documented extensive plagiarism in her dissertation and other published works. Sherri Charleston, Harvard’s chief diversity officer, faced similar allegations. More recently, Kerri K. Greenidge has retired from her post at Tufts because her book The Grimkes has been exposed as containing fabrications and egregious errors. Probably, if black women are twice as good at achieving anything, perhaps it is academic fraud.

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About Lipton Matthews

Lipton Matthews is a researcher and podcaster. He is a regular contributor to American Greatness. In addition, his work has been featured in Mises, The Federalist, Chronicles, American Thinker, Epoch Times, and other publications. He is also author of Busting African Delusions: Institutions, Human Capital, and the Path to Progress. He can be reached at lo_matthews@yahoo.com.


TOPICS: Education; Government; History; Politics
KEYWORDS: highmaintenance

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1 posted on 08/11/2026 5:03:35 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

A degree from a “Historically Black College” does not cure low IQ.


2 posted on 08/11/2026 5:06:59 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: All

The Myth of Black Female Exceptionalism?

That’s no myth.....history and the headlines tell us
they are exceptionally moronic....and totally useless.


3 posted on 08/11/2026 5:08:53 AM PDT by Liz (“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies the work of His hands." (Psalm 19:1))
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To: Red Badger

She, and all those like her, are delusional idiots.


4 posted on 08/11/2026 5:09:10 AM PDT by Frank Drebin (And don't ever let me catch you guys in America!)
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To: MtnClimber

There is enough anecdotal data to infer it promotes it.


5 posted on 08/11/2026 5:09:12 AM PDT by Skwor
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To: MtnClimber

I don’t believe I ever thought black women were exceptional and anyone who takes Jazzy Crockett as gospel is part of the low information voter block.

God I miss Rush.

Today, there is conservative viewpoints dished up almost all day long......when 3 hours would do.


6 posted on 08/11/2026 5:09:42 AM PDT by SteelPSUGOP (UGHT)
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To: Red Badger

“black women are exceptional only in comparison to black men”.
no more needs to be said.


7 posted on 08/11/2026 5:09:58 AM PDT by Palio di Siena (Kralik…..you get the wallet)
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To: Red Badger

Time for this map again.

There is ample evidence to support racial and cultural factors alongside nutritional for a baseline IQ. The ugly truth is those who would be “elite” do everything they can to hide this.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a5/85/f3/a585f3ede23eab4fe07b70f5d0fc5bb2.jpg


8 posted on 08/11/2026 5:13:30 AM PDT by Skwor
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To: Red Badger

I can see this being true as far as the number of black females who have degrees. Online degree mills are a thing.


9 posted on 08/11/2026 5:15:04 AM PDT by Mathews (I have faith Malachi is right!!! Any day now...)
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To: Red Badger

I’m a black woman talking. You better shut yo cracker mouth and listen or I’m finna beat yo @$$. And then scream I DINDONUFFIN right before the popo pepper spray me.


10 posted on 08/11/2026 5:15:40 AM PDT by Wilderness Conservative (Death to the DEATH TO AMERICA, Democrats.)
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To: T.B. Yoits

Make no mistake. This is no “correction”. They’re going to replace black American women in these jobs with foreign women.


11 posted on 08/11/2026 5:26:00 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Red Badger

“Black Female Exceptionalism.”

Never heard of it. Must be one of those “cultural” things...


12 posted on 08/11/2026 5:26:25 AM PDT by unread (One of the largest cities in America has fallen to the communist... Think about that...)
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To: Red Badger
Great article

In today's world (at least in this country) a college degree does not equal Education.

Depending on the school, there are a few exceptions, a college degree infers that the person has there head filled with destructive ideas and foolish opinions.

Often trying to dispel those thoughts with truth will elicit an angry blowback.

And even luck will not help these women.

'Chance favors the prepared mind,' was Louis Pasteur's most famous quote.

And these women are graduating totally unprepared.

Totally the fault of the Woke institutions from which they graduated.

13 posted on 08/11/2026 5:26:38 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminisheRs the human spirit.)
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To: Red Badger

Giving college degrees to black women does not affect the most important things in life—a positive attitude, a work ethic, street smarts to avoid being scammed, long term planning skills and just being fun to be around.


14 posted on 08/11/2026 5:27:53 AM PDT by cgbg (Four seconds is all it takes to beat the brainwashing.)
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To: Red Badger

Watch any TV commercial—those blacks do not exist.


15 posted on 08/11/2026 5:28:53 AM PDT by devane617 (Facts Do Not Matter To Those On The Left—It's Their God.)
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To: MtnClimber

HBCs are a fraud. Always have been. Had a boss from one. Dumb as a brick and only hired black HBC grads.

They really f’ed up American business.

And remember, the reason black men have so many problems are black women. BW are violent. They scare off the men and then raise a half a dozen young kids to be violent and rely on emotion. That’s one reason black female police chiefs are so bad - they turn the whole departments into raging babies.


16 posted on 08/11/2026 5:30:04 AM PDT by CircleCityHamburgerMan (Death to demons)
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To: devane617

During black history month, there are all kinds of ads on social media proclaiming that a black woman did this and a black woman did that. It is sickening. They are trying to get young people to believe that if it weren’t for black women, we would all be living in caves.


17 posted on 08/11/2026 5:32:04 AM PDT by Texas resident ( We finally have an American President again)
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To: devane617

“Watch any TV commercial—those blacks do not exist”

You mean the blacks that are condescending to the low IQ Whites in every tv commercial?.....THOSE blacks?


18 posted on 08/11/2026 5:32:11 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America....so great even the people that hate it won't leave!)
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To: Red Badger

The gist of this article extends \well beyond\ just black women.
It could be applied to an entire generation of privileged children; so-called GenZ; now in their ‘propagation’ years.


19 posted on 08/11/2026 5:33:26 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (The Democrats' official policy is now, “Hate, Violence and Murder". Change my mind.)
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To: Texas resident

Black women have been very important in my life.

The only reason I cannot remember exactly how is because I am getting senile.

Lol.


20 posted on 08/11/2026 5:34:28 AM PDT by cgbg (Four seconds is all it takes to beat the brainwashing.)
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