This dissertation uses sociocultural linguistics to investigate how Black undergraduates at a Historically White Institution (HWI) understand Blackness, and how their racial socialization experiences in their pre-college years inform that perspective. This project reveals that many Black undergraduates in the HWI context may not have the benefit of Black socialization, and as a result, are exploring how to be Black in community for the first time. Each of the chapters, explores an area of Black self and community discovery, the social interactions and discourses that inform their understandings of Blackness, and the impact of students' dispositions toward Blackness in the HWI context. The first chapter autoethnographically explores my own Black socialization before college, interactions that shaped my understanding of Blackness, and how that understanding interacted with the HWI context when I transferred to University. The second chapter describes and reflects on my process of ethnographic data collection and analysis. The third chapter explores the significance of self-identification labels among Black undergraduates at a California HWI, and, through the concept of Black community (non)identification, demonstrates how these students' understanding of their place within Blackness was informed by their lack of Black socialization in their pre-college years. The fourth chapter centers the experience of students who understand themselves not to be identified with Black community and examines the hubs of Black community socialization these students engage with to transition to Black community identification, including the role of Black faculty in this process. The fifth and final chapter is a summary of the key contributions of my research alongside policy recommendations based on my analysis, followed by an exploration of future directions for research on the racial socialization experiences of Black undergraduates at HWIs. [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.]