The intent of this study was to better understand the lived experiences of African American student leaders through the examination of their definitions, descriptions, and perceptions of leadership. Ten interviews of African American/Black student leaders were conducted that ranged between forty-five minutes and ninety minutes. The responses of the respondents were analyzed through utilization of a matrix comprised of Bolman and Deal's 4 frames, an additional frame by Scull, and Kouzes and Posner's 5 practices. The goal of using the matrix to analyze the students' responses was to capture the unique perceptions and experiences of these leaders in order to answer the following research questions. How do African American or Black college student leaders describe leadership? What values do African American or Black college student leaders perceive to be important to leadership? What do African American or Black college leaders perceive as the purpose of leadership? How do African American or Black college student leaders describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities they perceive to be necessary for effective leadership?

The results of the study revealed that these student leaders focused on role modeling, building relationships, the sense of responsibility of being a leader, empowering the community, and service when describing leadership. In addition, the participants shared their evolution of identifying as a leader, the realization of their impact within the community as a leader, and them identifying that living on a cultural specific hall was a benefit to their leadership development. And although there are some limitations to the models in regards to specifically studying the African American/Black community, they proved useful overall in the analysis of the data.