Career-technical education, introduced to American high school systems in 1917, has experienced a significant increase in participation over the last several years, especially among African American students. However, racial inequity across career-technical programs are evident in those career-technical education programs related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The purpose of this study was to document the lived experiences of African American graduates of high school career-technical education programs and how these experiences influenced their decision-making process for their career-technical education program of choice. Gottfredson's theory of circumscription and compromise is the conceptual framework that supports this study. A qualitative methodology and phenomenology design were used to research the lived experiences of four male and four female Black high school career-technical education graduates in a southern state of the United States. Participants who met the study criteria were interviewed via Zoom, and their responses were transcribed via Otter AI and analyzed in Microsoft Excel using thematic analysis. Results indicated that although the participants had positive experiences with STEM-related career-technical education programs and a negative connotation of non-STEM career-technical education programs, Black high school graduates avoided STEM-related career-technical education programs because they were not knowledgeable about the value it provided them and believed that they are not able to excel in STEM career-technical education courses and programs. [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.]