African-American youths growing up in residentially segregated communities are often overwhelmed with the negative realities embedded in poverty. These individuals experience a life that at best presents a marginalized quality of social, economic, and political opportunities (Journal of Blacks in Higher Education Weekly Bulletin, 2011). The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between residential segregation (i.e., educational apartheid) and the academic performance of the African-American male student population. A phenomenological approach was utilized to identify and assess African-American male students' perspectives of their lived experiences as high school dropouts or as students that had been pushed out of high school: a process that will ultimately add voice and value to the realities of what life without a high school education means to this population. Although there are many impoverished and underprivileged groups in the U.S. today, this research specifically focused on the African-American male student population because of its exceedingly high percentage of dropouts and push outs in secondary school. In addition, this research encouraged specific solutions and ideal implementations that were not just a quick fix or a bandage, but rather the beginnings of a positive transformational change in the academic performance that involves truth, dignity, and equality for this population.