Chapter 6: “A Seat at the Table”: Black Women Administrators’ Narratives of Struggle and Support in the Ivory Tower

Black women experience the American academy differently than other faculty, including Black males, White women, and other faculty of color (Harlow, 2003; Meyers, 2002; Smith, 2004; Thomas & Hollenshead, 2001; Thompson & Louque, 2005; Turner, 2002). Living and working at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities created by the positions resulting from their race, gender, and economic class membership can position Black women as outsiders, thus making them more vulnerable to being isolated or alienated from other groups who are more consistently represented, such as White men and White women. Therefore, to mentor a Black woman in the academy requires an understanding of not only the historical framing of Black women in American society, but also their personal background. It’s essential to know where she was born, her class status, and how all of these details impact the ways in which she views herself in the world and in the microcosm of academe (Johnson-Bailey, 2012; Thomas, 2001). Unsurprisingly, mentoring Black women in academia who aspire to a leadership position is even more challenging because this sacred ground of management is most often a bastion of White males. So Black women who pursue this track are often regarded as being “out of their place” or a surprising anomaly. A second complicating issue in such a mentoring process can be the inordinate marginalization, resentment, resistance, and challenges that Black women experience when they demonstrate readiness to lead and apply for or move into a leadership position (Thomas, Johnson-Bailey, Phelps, Tran, & Johnson, 2013).