: To Advance the Race: Black Women’s Higher Education from the Antebellum Era to the 1960s

Black women have participated in American higher education for over a century. Despite formidable professional and personal barriers, they have made significant advances. Many have reaped the benefits of their contributions. This article discusses the history and status of Black faculty women, describing strategies they have used to overcome internal and external challenges. It addresses critical issues such as managing career and family, establishing support systems, and negotiating tenure and promotion. It also offers suggestions for restructuring their career development to help them develop strategic professional and personal skills that can ensure their survival and achievement in the academy. The history of Black women in the United States can best be described as a struggle for survival and identity coupled with the need and desire to protect and support the family. Black women of today have emerged from what Hudson-Weems (1989) terms a tripartite or threefold shroud of oppression consisting of racism, classism, and sexism. Notwithstanding these barriers, which typically have been coupled with limited resources and low socioeconomic status, Black women as a whole have shown great resilience, and many have achieved great strides. The African proverb, She who learns must also teach, echoes the importance that historically has been attached to Black faculty women's efforts to share their knowledge with others regardless of any opposition or challenges they may have faced. Black women, though the most numerous of faculty women of color in institutions of higher education in the United States, accounted for only 6.43% of all full-time faculty among the ranks of assistant, associate, and full professors in 1996, barely up from 6.23% in 1986 (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2000). Roughly half these women are employed in the nation's historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and most of the remainder teach in community colleges. Only 1% of Black faculty women teach full-time in four-year majority institutions across the country (American Council on Education [ACE], 1993). The decade from 1981 to 1991 saw this group losing ground in their efforts to gain tenure on college and university campuses, dropping from 58% to 56% of those achieving this goal (ACE, 1993). Traditionally, over half of all Black women doctorate recipients choose academic employment, but the numbers are declining. Today, fewer Black women doctoral recipients nationwide are choosing academic employment, and many of those who do enter the academy eventually leave to pursue careers in business, industry, and the professions (Gregory, 1999). Teevan, Pepper, and Pellizzari (1992) have argued that many faculty women leave academe because of family responsibilities; they further contend that those who remain often produce less scholarly work. My own earlier study (Gregory, 1999) and a study by White (1999) confirm that Black women too often reject positions in higher education because of family and community responsibilities. Despite these reservations and reversals, Black women have a rich tradition of employment in U.S. education at all levels. Many have sought careers in the teaching profession because of a desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Compelling evidence suggests that Black faculty women can have a profound impact on the lives and perceptions of students. Numerous studies by Black scholars such as Blackwell (1983), Brown (1988), and Gardiner, Enomoto, and Grogan (2000) have cited lack of mentoring as one major reason why colleges and universities have had difficulty recruiting and retaining Black and other non-Asian American minority students. Their work has shown that many Black students perceive the absence of Black faculty members as paralleling their current low status and future outlook on campus. Blackwell (1983) has found that the number of Black faculty members at a college or university is the most important predictor of enrollment and retention rates for first-year Black students and of the total number of Black student graduates. …

Higher education institutions strive to ensure that their faculty are representative of the diverse students they serve. The importance of faculty diversity is particularly important in engineering, which is often dominated by white men. In South Africa, race remains contested 26 years after the end of apartheid, and the majority Black African population continues to be marginalized in political, economic, and knowledge enterprises. Black women represent 90% of the female population in South Africa. However, Black women are scarcely represented—and sometimes absent—in engineering academia. In this chapter, I argue that Black women’s career choices are influenced by their higher education experiences, which signal to Black women that they do not belong in higher education spaces. Using evidence from qualitative interviews conducted with 18 Black African women engineers in South Africa, I highlight how Black women experience higher education as racialized and gendered, discouraging them from pursuing academic careers. These race-gendered experiences need to be understood in the historical context of higher education and engineering in South Africa and in the remnants of an apartheid past that continue to impact everyday decisions of Black African South African women pursuing engineering degrees. The chapter concludes with implications and considerations for higher education institutions and engineering departments as they work to recruit and retain Black women in engineering academia.

Black Women in Higher Education

This paper explores how repetitive language functions as a form of resistance for Black women navigating academic spaces across Ontario, Canada, and England. Drawing on Gilroy's The Black Atlantic (Gilroy, P. 1993. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. London: Verso), W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of double consciousness (Du Bois, W. E. B. 1903. The Souls of Black Folk. Knoxville, TN: A.C. McClurg & Co), and Black Feminist Thought (Collins, P. H. 2019. Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory. Durham: Duke University Press), alongside discourse analysis (Johnstone, B., and J. Andrus. 2024. Discourse Analysis. John Wiley & Sons), this study examines how the repetitive patterns in Black women’s language act both as individual expressions of experiences and as communal affirmations of identity. This research underscores how language challenges institutional structures, revealing the creative and nuanced ways Black women resist and reframe oppressive narratives. Using in-person and online conversations with Black women across university roles in Ontario and England this paper shows how thematic dimensions of talk such as vulnerability, self-preservation, resistance and reclamation resonate with repetition as a linguistic practice. The analysis shows that repetition is not merely stylistic: it functions as a tool of collective assertion, critique, and affirmation. Through repetition, contributors forge solidarity, challenge institutional failures, and celebrate Black joy in defiance of systemic constraints. These findings contribute to scholarship on language as resistance and self-definition, and underscore the need for academic institutions to recognise and address the unique experiences of Black women (Rollock, N. 2021. ““I Would Have Become Wallpaper Had Racism Had Its Way”: Black Female Professors, Racial Battle Fatigue, and Strategies for Surviving Higher Education.” Peabody Journal of Education 96 (2): 206–217). By exploring Black women’s experiences in academic spaces, this paper also examines how workplace marginalisation is represented within their narratives, revealing how institutional policing manifests in their everyday interactions. By linking linguistic strategies such as repetition and parallelism with broader institutional critiques, this paper builds on scholarly discussions of how language is not only a response to systemic barriers but also a disruption of them, positioning Black women’s speech as an active site of resistance and transformation (Chance, N. L. 2022. “Resilient Leadership: A Phenomenological Exploration into How Black Women in Higher Education Leadership Navigate Cultural Adversity.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 62 (1): 44–78.; Williams, B. M. 2023. ““It’s Just My Face:” Workplace Policing of Black Professional Women in Higher Education.” Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education 16 (2): 67–89).

Meditations from a Black Woman Chair: Social Justice Values and a New Normal in Academic Administration

Efforts are needed to promote cancer knowledge and the uptake of cancer screening behaviors among Black Americans. Such efforts must be customized for the unique differences in facilitators/barriers among Black men and women. The present study leverages the potential of the UF Health Cancer Institute Community-Partnered Cancer Disparities Research Collaborative (CDRC) to identify the psychosocial and structural factors associated with cancer knowledge and screening behaviors among Black American men and women. 411 Black Americans participated in this cross-sectional study; 75.9% identified as cisgender women and 24.1% as cisgender men. Older age, higher education and income level were significantly associated with increased cancer-related knowledge among Black men and women across different cancer types, while greater perceived racism was significantly associated with decreased cancer-related knowledge. Older age, greater perceptions of provider cultural sensitivity, and greater patient satisfaction with the provider were significantly associated with increased odds of cancer-related screening among Black women and men, across cancer types. Notably, greater time spent with provider was associated with decreased odds of cancer-related screening among Black women, while greater patient satisfaction with accessibility and convenience was significantly associated with increased odds of cancer-related screening among Black men. The CDRC and the CBPR approach together hold potential for engaging Black men and women in cancer research similar to that in the present study. The results of this study can help inform future research and interventions that aim to promote cancer knowledge and screening behaviors among Black men and women.

The college success of Black women has often been narrowly defined by outcome data and does not consider some of the challenges they experience that are often racialized and gendered. Despite the increase in the number of Black women attending and graduating from college, few authors have highlighted the unique strategies that help facilitate their success. What remains unclear is how Black women define college success for themselves and what is necessary for them to thrive and survive in higher education. The purpose of this article is to garner insight from Black women alumnae about what facilitates college success. We present a letter-writing conceptual framework rooted in Black feminist theorizing as a way to elevate Black women’s knowledge. These letters offer a 60-year historical examination of advice by Black women for Black women. The data for this analysis came from a larger critical oral history project of 105 Black women that focused on reflections of their college experiences. The analysis combines Black feminist thought with Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter as a conceptual framework. Findings emphasized that there is not one monolithic set of advice for Black women to be successful in college. The advice stands in contrast to the essentializing, monolithic ways in which Black women are represented in the literature. Implications may offer knowledge and support to future generations of Black college-going women and transform higher education regarding how institutions may support Black women on their campuses.

Historically, Black women have been excluded from higher education based on race and gender. Moreover, Black women face multiple barriers that stem from the impact of intersectionality, which has led to the underrepresentation of Black women in senior-level administrative positions within institutions of higher education. Although the experiences of Black women working in higher education pursuing leadership positions differ from other demographics, their experiences continue to be understudied and underemphasized in the literature. This study explores the lived experiences of senior-level Black women administrators working in higher education to identify the key factors that lead them to attain these roles despite the barriers they have faced. The following research questions guided this study: How do Black women currently working as senior-level administrative leaders describe the experiences that led them to obtain a senior-level administrative position within higher education institutions? What stories do Black women who hold senior-level administrative positions in higher education share about their support systems at various levels of their careers? What key factors do Black women senior-level higher-education administrative leaders identify as having helped them attain success? In this study, success is the attainment of a senior-level administrative position at a regionally accredited institution of higher education. A counternarrative approach was employed to collect stories of Black women senior-level administrators in higher education who share narratives about overcoming barriers as they navigated their careers to obtain senior-level administrator positions. Marginalization due to race and gender impacts Black women, and as such, the researcher used intersectionality as the theory to inform the study. This study's findings can empower a minoritized group that is marginalized and ignored while giving them a voice and affirming their reality. In addition, this study identifies factors that could lead to more support systems, which could impact an increased number of Black women senior-level administrators within higher education. Keywords: counternarrative, intersectionality, higher education, Black women, senior-level administrator

Introduction: In memoriam: bell hooks, 1952–2021

Black women’s racial, ethnic, and indigenous histories and cultures in the United States and the diaspora are inextricably linked to historical legacies of survival and triumph. Black women’s unique place and space within the United States undergird who they are as individuals and collectively as Black women. Whether Black women acknowledge or disrupt it—the pervasiveness of Black women’s oppression does not disappear when they pursue higher education. Black women (learn to) understand how they make meaning of their identities and identity development as Black women across their lifespans and contexts. Some Black women (re)define who they are, some thrive and build community, others experience detrimental costs, and still, some experience all the above at different points in their lifetime. They navigate who they are in relation to their pre-collegiate socialization experiences (e.g., familial/communal upbringing, understanding of history, identity saliency). These pre-collegiate experiences influence how Black women engage and interact with others as they move into and through their tertiary environments. Collegiate contexts and environments vary—community college, single-sex, predominantly or historically white institutions (PWI or HWI), minority-serving institutions (MSI), public or private—and so too do the institutional agents who interact with and educate Black women (e.g., faculty, staff, and administrators). Through these interactions with others, Black women have often been rendered invisible or hyper-visible, meaning they are not considered in institutional decision making or tokenized for being “the only” or “one of few” in their academic discipline. Black women’s experiences are often conflated with white women when discussing gender or sexism, and Black men when discussing race or racism. Critical examination of Black women’s experiences requires one to name the situatedness of Black women within the context of institutionalized structures and systems. In other words, examination of Black undergraduate women must include critical and intersectional perspectives that overtly problematize practices and policies that sustain marginalization and perpetuate gendered racism against Black women.

The stereotypes present in popular television shows often become barriers that limit Black women in higher education, influencing the ways in which they experience college campuses, including how they are treated by faculty and peers and how they interact with others in these spaces. This study examined the perspectives of Black women regarding how media portrayals of Black women and specific popular characters influence their learning opportunities and sense of belonging as undergraduates in college campuses. Black Feminist Theory was employed to analyze the experiences of the participants, Black women, and Critical Race Theory aided in understanding how these women function within the system of higher education. These theories work in conjunction to address racist, sexist, and classist conditions to which Black women are subjected and their responses in specific contexts. Four major themes emerged, each having a set of subthemes. The four themes are: (1) Black womanhood is multi-layered and multi-faceted, (2) Black women in the media, (3) this is not my space, and (4) creating a sense of belonging.

Studies explain that participating in community service enhances relationships, positively contributes to one’s purpose, and provides life satisfaction with a specific focus on retention and degree attainment for those enrolled in college (Corporation for National and Community Service, 2007). The simultaneous increase of Black women attending colleges as universities increase outreach to drive community engagement does not align with the shift in the research of civic engagement that excludes the activity of young Black people and is counterintuitive to the historical underpinnings of political and educational transformations in the United States (e.g., Civil Rights Movement) (Hewins-Maroney, 2008). The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of why current Black undergraduate women volunteer in their communities and how they perceive these volunteer experiences reflect on understanding themselves as Black women. Qualitative inquiry was used to explore the similarities and differences of how Black women make meaning of their experiences and understand themselves. The 11 Black undergraduate women who participated revealed eight themes that contributed to their reason for serving their communities. Overwhelmingly, the participants felt a drive, usually before college, that motivated them to serve their communities to impact themselves and others in transformative ways. Their work in the community was not without hardships or barriers, but overcoming those barriers were also motivating to the participants to recognize their privilege and continue to serve. The university’s role is something the participants were critical about as they had little connection to the university related to volunteering except for the marketing of service opportunities but contributed that to their peers. As the institutionalization of service-learning and volunteerism in higher education has become a strategy to increase retention, the findings from the present study add to the limited research of volunteer engagement of diverse populations. The participants shared their criticism of volunteering within the university as well as the community broadly, and they confirm that intentional outreach and educational spaces should be dedicated to ensuring that the community work of students of all backgrounds is valued and that these students be given opportunities to engage in meaningful volunteer work.

Experiences of Black women academics bear remarkable similarities and transcend national boundaries, although with varying degrees of disparities across different socio-political contexts. In this chapter, the authors employ an international pan-African feminist lens to interrogate the experiences of Black women academics both in North America and in other parts of the world. Drawing from experiences Black women shared 20 years ago in the text, Sisters of the Academy, the authors juxtapose the current realities of what it means to be a Black academic woman in a global academic context. The authors extend beyond previous works to highlight the growing significance of context and identit(ies) in understanding Black women’s experiences in higher education. The authors interrogate current feminist theoretical frameworks around Black women’s experiences, to acknowledge the shared but distinct lived realities of oppression or liberation, and extend the framing and understanding of the Black academic woman’s experience in global contexts beyond North America.

Black women exist on the margins of research and curriculum, if included at all. Thus we know very little about them and how they experience academia. This article presents exemplars of some of the most influential scholarship and literature about Black women as they traverse the academic landscape of higher education as undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, institutional leaders, and administrators. The collection of selected articles is intended to present Black women in their full humanity and as people who live integrated, complete, and whole lives while simultaneously living, learning, and working at predominantly white institutions, historically Black institutions, community colleges, and various other institutional contexts. This article provides readers with an understanding of the dynamic ways in which Black women navigate postsecondary spaces and disrupts the positioning of Black women as a monolithic group. Black women of all genders, sexual identities, and varying degrees of mental, emotional, and physical abilities exist; thus Black women’s experiences must be explored through intersectional lenses and be fully captured and addressed in scholarly discourse and societal contexts. Readers will develop an understanding of the key issues shaping the experiences of Black women in higher education and the strategies they have used to achieve success. Finally, the article supports readers in their efforts to think critically about higher education institutions’ roles in promoting or undermining Black women’s success and well-being on- (and off-) campus. Noticeably, a significant increase in research and scholarship about Black women has been published in the early twenty-first century compared to years prior. Still much of the literature about Black women has also been published in less “prestigious” journals, calling into question the value that editorial boards and journal reviewers place on critical research that centers them. Furthermore, research regarding Black women in support staff and service worker positions (e.g., cashiers, custodians) is incredibly absent and deserving of much-needed attention. Despite this glaring absence, research about Black women in higher education published in the 2000s presents Black womanhood in expansive ways, grounded in Black feminist epistemologies and methodological approaches, and readily makes the intersectional erasure and extreme invisibility to which Black women have been subjected, the problem under study. Future research about Black women will and must continue to be cutting-edge, methodologically innovative, and rigorous, as scholars rely upon Black feminist epistemologies to help them frame their research inquiries and conduct studies with Black women and on their behalf.

Dans le cadre de la hierarchie sociale aux Etats-Unis, prenant en compte les facteurs de classe, d'ethnicite, de race, et de sexe, etude des relations entre femmes blanches ou de couleur et homme blancs, et de l'impact de ces relations sur le mouvement feministe blanc et de couleur