On average, African Americans receive lower wages in the workplace due to lack of
advanced technical skills. The reason for technical deficiency among some African
Americans is often lack of exposure to IT resources at an early age. The purpose of this
ethnographic study was to identify and explore the factors that contribute to lack of IT
resources available to some African Americans to cultivate IT skills. Information literacy
theory formed the conceptual framework, which focused on information resources that
African American and Caucasians use in the workforce for problem solving and
retrieving information. Data were collected by conducting face-to-face and phone
interviews using open-ended questions with 20 randomly selected African Americans
employed in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Maryland. Data saturation was
reached after interviewing the 20 participants. Data were analyzed for emergent themes,
revealing that (a) more computer use yielded higher academic achievement, (b) users
with higher income had more access to IT resources, and (c) users who had more
technical knowledge received higher wages. The findings of the study may contribute to
positive social change by exposing members of the African American community as well
as other communities to the importance of advanced computer skills, which are needed to
succeed in careers and to compete effectively in the workplace.