Authentically Me: Examining Expectations That Are Placed Upon Black Women in College

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachelle Winkle-Wagner ◽  
Bridget Turner Kelly ◽  
Courtney L. Luedke ◽  
Tangela Blakely Reavis
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
College Women ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Black College ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Support Structures ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Faculty And Staff

Through analyzing critical life stories with Black alumnae from predominantly White institutions, this article offers a narrative, in-depth approach to explore the ways in which alumnae managed and resisted expectations and stereotypes that were placed upon them by peers, faculty, and staff during college. Findings suggested that participants grappled with assumptions of who they should be as Black college women. As they resisted stereotypes and expectations, they crafted unique pathways toward asserting their authentic selves. The findings emphasize heterogeneity among Black women and the need for varied support structures in educational institutions.

scholarly journals Lift Every Voice: Exploring the Stressors and Coping Mechanisms of Black College Women Attending Predominantly White Institutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naysha N. Shahid ◽  
Tamara Nelson ◽  
Esteban V. Cardemil
Keyword(s):  
Black Students ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
College Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Black College ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Racial Tension

In the past 40 years, there has been a significant increase in Black students’ enrollment at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Meanwhile, research shows that Black students often experience difficulty with transitioning and adjusting to PWIs. Previous research has effectively documented the challenges facing a significant number of Black students at PWIs; however, less is known about the experiences of Black women in particular. This study examined stress from racial tension experienced among 129 Black undergraduate women at PWIs in the Northeast region of the United States, as well as the potential moderating factors of the theorized Strong Black Woman concept and the Africultural coping theory. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a significant positive association between racial tension experienced on campus and stress. Results also indicated that only Africultural coping was a significant moderator of this relationship, such that there was a weaker relationship between racial tension and stress among the participants who engaged more in Africultural coping. Policy implications for improving the campus racial climate and the academic experiences of Black college women at PWIs are discussed.

Negotiations of Women’s Black and Activist Identity Through Dress on the College Campus, 2013–2019

2020 ◽  
pp. 0887302X2096880
Author(s):  
Dyese L. Matthews ◽  
Kelly L. Reddy-Best
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Black People ◽  
College Campus ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Women College Students ◽  
White Campuses ◽  
Embodied Practice

Black people, especially Black women, have used dress to reject racism and discrimination and as a means for negotiating their Black and activist identities. Building on past work, we examine how Black women use dress as an embodied practice to negotiate both their Black and activist identities. We focus on a particular space and time: campus life at predominantly White institutions during the Black Lives Matter movement era from 2013 to 2019.To achieve this purpose, we conducted 15 in-depth, semistructured wardrobe interviews with current Black women college students. Overall, we identified three themes relating to Black women college students: experiences on predominantly White campuses, negotiating Black identity through dress, and negotiating activist identity through dress. Examining how Black women negotiate identity through dress recognizes their stories as important through counter-storytelling, allowing Black women to write their own history in their own voices.

scholarly journals Outreach librarian to black students : A de facto role

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Spencer
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Black College ◽  
Black College Students ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Additional Labor

While some predominantly white institutions can offer unique and laudable educational experiences to Black college students, they can also lack resources that provide these same students with a culturally affirming milieu. Black faculty and staff can organize their time, energy and resources to offer culturally enriching experiences for Black students. However, this additional labor is not systematically seen, cataloged or recognized as a core or essential duty. The author describes some effective forms of outreach from her personal experience and simultaneously asks whose job it is to meet the cultural needs of this population.

Finding a Voice in Predominantly White Institutions: A Longitudinal Study of Black Women Faculty Members’ Journeys toward Tenure

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Bridget Turner Kelly ◽  
Rachelle Winkle-Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Women Faculty ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Tenure Track ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Longitudinal Research Design ◽  
Black Women Faculty

Background/Context Amidst scholarship that underscores the importance of Black women faculty in higher education, Black women are often not being retained in faculty positions at research universities. There is a gap in the research relative to how Black women experience the tenure process at predominantly White institutions, and this may have important implications for both recruitment and retention of Black women faculty. Purpose This analysis attempts to fill a gap in the literature on the recruitment and retention of faculty of color by asking: What are the experiences of Black women faculty on the tenure track at PWIs who are the only woman of color faculty member in their academic program? Drawing on data from qualitative longitudinal research with Black women faculty who were on the tenure track at PWIs, the primary purpose of this analysis was to understand four Black women's longitudinal reflections on their journey toward tenure at PWIs where they are “othered” by gender and race. Setting and Participants This project was part of a larger study of 22 women faculty who were on tenure-lines in two predominantly White research universities. This study focused on four Black women from this larger study. Research Design This study employed a qualitative longitudinal research design. Data Collection and Analysis: As part of the qualitative longitudinal research design, interviews were conducted each year for five years with each participant. Findings The findings of this analysis with Black women faculty on the tenure-line suggests that despite being the only person of color in their academic programs, they found ways to use their voice in and outside the academy. Finding and using their voices in the academy became a way to push back and resist some of the isolation and racism that the women experienced in the academy, and often the women did so in collectivist spaces with other Black women. Conclusions/Recommendations These findings of this study call into question predominantly White and male spaces in academia and ways that these spaces should be challenged to change. The Black women in this study coped by creating collectivist spaces and finding/ using their voices. Rather than focusing on how to encourage Black women to cope and survive in academia, there should be more emphasis on how to change institutional and departmental structures to make these spaces more inclusive and collectivist.

Epilogue

2019 ◽  
pp. 237-252
Author(s):  
Jelani M. Favors
Keyword(s):  
Predominantly White ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Black Family ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Black College ◽  
College Life ◽  
Fashion Brand ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Real Challenge

The epilogue of this book examines the transformations that HBCUs have undergone since the mid 70s to present day. This era coincided with a migration of talented black family and students from black colleges to predominantly white institutions (PWI) as integration opened new doors and opportunities for black Americans. With years of underfunding and limited resources, HBCUs proved unable to match the facilities, infrastructure, and budgets of their PWI counterparts. Nevertheless, black colleges still experienced a cultural renaissance due to an embrace by American pop culture that was deeply influenced by the emerging sound and message of hip-hop. Black college life was dramatized on television and movies screens, and worn as a popular fashion brand by black entertainers and hip hop stars, which led to a fascination and often romanticization of HBCUs. The real challenge confronting black colleges was how to maintain financial solvency and repair a vast array of internal problems that resulted in public relation nightmares, while also continuing in their legacy of producing socially and politically conscious students who were prepared to serve as change agents in the black community.

Building Bridges

2015 ◽  
pp. 167-194
Author(s):  
Mahauganee Dawn Shaw ◽  
Modinat A. Sanni
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Women Educators ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Predominantly White Institutions ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
Black Women Educators

In this chapter, research on the roles of mentoring and cultural nourishment within the institutional environment is used to contextualize the personal narratives of two Black women educators. The narratives come from the authors—women who were formally educated in predominantly White institutions and informally educated in a variety of African-centered community and family settings—and are used to highlight lessons gleaned from the authors' experiences as women of color within predominantly White educational settings, both as students and employees. Examples are provided to reveal how those lessons now guide their current work interacting with and advocating for students of color in similar institutional settings.

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