Fortitude

In New York City, from the 1990s to the present, covert racism is alive and well in the field of medicine and medical education. The most heavily impacted are African American and Caribbean American females and males. The inequitable treatment thus engendered has concrete results ranging from unwarranted criticism in residency education to forced changes of medical occupations and jobs, to false attributions of behavioral health issues. Combating these challenges requires fortified character armor, seeking percipient well positioned minority, white and off-whites allies, and a willingness to maintain continued vigilance. With persistence and tenacity, success is possible in terms of protecting minorities both in the educational process, and in a mature medical life.

Navigating the Landscape of the STEM Professoriate

In 1976, the challenges faced by women of color who pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields were first brought to national attention. Forty-two years later, the authors re-examine the challenges, barriers, and successes of women of color in STEM higher education. This chapter examines the landscape of the STEM professoriate through a literature review (journals, trade magazines, theses, and dissertations) and reflective shorts and quotes from women of color navigating the STEM professoriate. The literature review spans a 10-year period (2008-2018). Both the review and the reflections focus on the areas of STEM belonging, self-presentation, stereotyping, institutional racism, discrimination, and tokenism as challenges faced by women of color in the STEM professoriate. Additionally, mechanisms used by women of color to navigate and succeed despite these barriers, such as mentoring, are explored throughout.

Societal Factors and Workplace Perceptions

Despite the growing number of women and minorities in STEM occupations, underrepresentation of Black women in the STEM workforce persists as they hold only 2.4% and 2% of science and engineering jobs, respectively, though they make up 6.4% of the total population. Despite these numbers, the African American women who are in STEM fields have been shown to excel at exceptional rates. The purpose of this chapter is to examine existing data, strategies, and models that address social determinants of professional STEM attainment for Black women. This chapter will explore the importance of intersectional identities and how this influences Black women's success in STEM fields in addition to understanding how counterpaces function to enhance persistence and advance the success of women of color in STEM fields. Understanding the non-academic factors that affect minority women's persistence in STEM allows for a broader conversation around implications for findings for academic and social support programs.

Knowledge Sharing Practices, ICT, Information Literacy, and STEM Career Path Choices Among Girls at the Secondary School Level

This chapter explored literature and discussed the importance of knowledge sharing practices, ICT, and information literacy, and their influence on STEM career path choices among girls at the secondary school level. This was properly situated by examining the concept of knowledge sharing, concept of career path choices, knowledge sharing on career path choices of girls, considered ICT and career path choices of girls, effect of ICT on career path choices of girls, information literacy and career path choices of girls, effect of information literacy on career path choices of girls. It concludes that a culture of knowledge sharing practices among the girls will get the less knowledgeable girls informed for informed STEM career path decisions. The use of ICTs for networking and sharing knowledge among the girls will improve information literacy skills needed by the girls to help identify information needs, access, retrieve, evaluate, and use same career choices. The chapter includes recommendations.

Grace Under Fire

Participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions have been historically dominated by white males in the United States with women, particularly minority women, remaining grossly underrepresented. In the United States and in most of the industrialized nations around the world, STEM majors and careers remain male-dominated despite ongoing efforts to change this reality. The study presented in this chapter explores the familial, educational, economic, and social experiences that are contributing to the selection and maintenance of a STEM career for 125 female participants. The grounded theory approach was used to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about the role these experiences played in the participants' choosing and remaining in a STEM career. Study findings suggest that many of the macro-level initiatives aimed to increase the number of women who acquire a position in a STEM field are misaligned with the micro-level needs of the women in their academic progression as well as their needs once in a STEM profession.

Afro-Caribbean Immigrants in STEM Careers

Afro-Caribbean immigrants have made a significant contribution to the STEM careers in the United States over the last 70 years. Their contributions have been mostly unrecognized, and they have had extraordinary challenges to overcome, as perceptions of people of color in these professions and their ability to competently excel has been constantly under scrutiny. This chapter examines the experiences of an Afro-Caribbean woman who came to the United States as a Mathematics teacher in 2002. Her story describes the racial prejudice she encountered while teaching Mathematics in two North Carolina high schools. It highlights some of the deep-rooted racial biases that exist toward people of color in the STEM professions, not only by non-Africans but also by African Americans themselves. It also reflects on the challenges that changing those perceptions will entail and the link those biases have to slavery and segregation in the United States.

Overcoming the Layers of Obstacles

This chapter documents the experiences in the journey of an African American female physicist. They correspond to those in documented studies of other African Americans and females in both the specific field of physics as well as the broader area of all STEM. When scaled with the norm of these groups, there is a thread of consistencies in the obstructions and difficulties that seem to be common to the underrepresented. This writing, which is adopted from the author's previous contribution to a similar topic, seeks to continue to reinforce the challenges women of color have experienced in pushing for advances obtained thus far. The scientific Ph.D. community is an area that many have felt was immune to the difficulties faced by African Americans on the lower end of society. It is evident that our society is neither “post-racial” nor “post-sexist,” even on the higher intellectual turf. With a level playing field that is established by removing the obstacles that systemic racism creates—obstacles like unfair roadblocks—accomplishing one's dreams is attainable.

What Sports Do You Play? Actually, My Major Is Mathematics

Although many different cultures contribute richly to the development of mathematics, many research scholars promote Western and Eurocentric perspectives of mathematics as dominant forces in mathematics history, texts, curriculum, and instruction. This absence of diverse mathematicians has worked to shape current negative narratives surrounding people of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Particularly, women of African descent remain underrepresented in STEM, comprising only 1.6% of STEM professionals with bachelor's degrees, and only 1.4% of those with doctoral degrees. Marked by the intersection of systemic and institutionalized racism and gender oppression, these women, experience “double bind” challenges. Using the author's personal story, she explores these challenges to highlight how institutionalized racism and sexism permeated her mathematics-STEM experience. Lastly, approaches of how to navigate, discretely and indiscreetly, the underrepresentation of young girls and women of color in STEM are offered.

Creating Support Systems for Black Women in Nontraditional STEM Career Paths

Although careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are widely acknowledged as central to the future, women remain largely underrepresented in these spheres. This is particularly true for Black women, highlighting the necessity of support systems and resources designed to promote their success in STEM. Ideally, these supports should begin during the K-12 years and continue throughout the course of their educational journeys. Current research indicates that Black women in STEM achieve greater, lasting success when they have access to structured support systems. As the career paths of Black women in STEM continue to evolve, there remains a need for adaptable structures and resources that are applicable to their unique needs. Yet, these supports often do not exist for those pursuing nontraditional STEM career paths. Therefore, this chapter underscores the need for Black women in STEM to establish their own support systems, aligned with their specific career paths.