This paper reflects and discusses the partial results of an exploratory investigation carried out in the sister cities of Cachoeira and São Felix, in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Such exploration was part of a multicenter research effort coordinated by the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation (FUNDAJ), a federal investigation entity with its head office in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. The research project “Intergenerational Transferability: Poverty and Racial Inequality: visions and perceptions”, coordinated by the FUNDAJ, sought to explore in six Brazilian states from the Northwest (the poorest region of the country with the highest quantity of black inhabitants) the variations of the education expectations of parents and children from a qualitative perspective attentive to socially produced meanings and controlling race / color. Preliminary results indicate that the gender dimensions must be considered seriously for questioning the formation of racial identities in popular contexts and, particularly, the relationship of youth with school.