Chapter 6: “How I Made It Over”: Tales of Triumph and Truth from Black Women Educators

This chapter explores the issues and challenges faced by Black women in academia and discusses how educational attainment provided options when there may have been none otherwise. There are multiple pathways to success in the world. However, Black women have a unique and particular need to “get it right” as they are the first line of defense against institutional racism in all its forms; from education, housing, judicial, employment and media. Black women are the protectors of children and the nurturers of the home front. Existing research from the Womanist theory (Walker, 1983), Multicultural Feminist Model (MFM) of Mentoring (Benishek, Bieschke, Park, & Slattery, 2004) and Africentric Mentoring Program (AMP) provide the backdrop for how education has quietly moved Black women forward in their truth regardless of the tribulations they faced (Harris, 1999). Consequently, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the unique challenges faced in academia and how the authors used educational attainment to preempt and preclude failure. A case study of a young female emerging into higher education will be used to breathe life into this element.