With the surge of the academic disengagement of secondary African American students in the United States, there have been numerous attempts at recapturing students' engagement in school. When African American students disengage in school, they are at a greater risk of adverse educational outcomes, which potentially impacts the students, their families, and the greater community. The purpose of this study, guided by critical race theory and self-efficacy theory, was to describe how African American high school students' school engagement is affected by their perceptions of school racial climate and self-efficacy. A qualitative multiple case study was used to collect data through interviews, video diaries, and a focus group with nine African-American high school seniors in the United States. The research questions that guided the study were: How do secondary African American students describe their school racial climate? How do secondary African American students describe their self-efficacy? How do secondary African American students describe their school engagement? A thematic analysis approach was applied to the data to generate themes to answer the research questions. The results of this study revealed that Black students perceived their school racial climate as racially unfair and emotionally unsafe, and negative emotional experiences influenced their self-efficacy. Participants also described the characteristics of their engagement, positive influences on their engagement, and the weight of estrangement on their engagement. Providing a positive school racial climate and nurturing a healthy sense of self-efficacy and belonging can help reduce the academic disengagement of Black students. Future researchers should explore ways to improve school racial climate and build students' self-efficacy. [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.]