I went to a Catholic grade school that became mostly black by time I graduated. All the boys went to high school and several of them to the highly rated Catholic military school in town. As far as I was able to keep up with them, they all finished high school at least. This would have been in the early 70s.
I'd guess that most, but not all, of these boys were from 2 parent families. Some single mothers sent their boys to Catholic school so they would be disciplined, and in high school, around strong male teachers.
The fact that there's no dad doesn't mean that you have to commit crimes. I never subscribed to the theory that poverty = criminality. Is it just the absence of fathers from the home that has caused this decline in behavior? Due to war and other factors, men have been absent from homes since the beginning of time and we haven't had these problems. I wish I had an answer. It is sad to see so many black men waste their lives when many black women are making it.
Blacks are, to my knowledge, the only ethnic group in this country where female labor force participation is higher than that of males.
And people wonder why we see so many Hispanic laborers. The white guys got better jobs, and many (though not all) black guys are unavailable for those jobs.
I am never surprised when I hear that a prominant older black person went to Catholic school, at least for grade school. Expectations were high for all kids in the class, at least back in the 40's, 50's and 60's.