African American males often struggle with reading motivation and reading achievement. The problem addressed in this research study was that low reading motivation in African American males is associated with low scoring on standardized and summative reading assessments. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the reading motivation of sixth-grade African American males in a rural middle school in the southern part of the United States. The study population consisted of 105 middle school teachers in a rural school district in Arkansas. A purposive sample of five sixth-grade literacy teachers was used in this qualitative case study. Thematic and hermeneutic analyses were used to identify themes that emerged from participants' responses to one-on-one semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion. The research findings indicated that home reading culture, outside reading opportunities, teacher expectations, student self-efficacy, and students' attitudes about reading influence reading motivation. The findings also revealed that reading motivation and reading achievement are interconnected. Additionally, the findings indicated that students' early reading experiences, reading levels, reading skills, culturally relevant resources, and school reading culture have a significant impact on students' reading motivation. One recommendation for practice included the need for teachers to design instruction that considers students' reading interests and students' choices of reading resources. Another recommendation was for teachers to seek out and implement quality culturally relevant reading resources in instruction for the benefit of all students. Three recommendations for future research were: to conduct more research on the variance of self-efficacy among ethnic groups, conduct a longitudinal study of African American males from middle school through high school, and to interview students, parents, and administrators about their role in students' reading achievement. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]