Chapter 11: Conclusion: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

In centering the powerful narratives of Black women administrators, we acknowledge on the one hand that the ” history of Black women in the United States can best be described as a struggle for survival and identity…” (Gregory, 2001, p. 124), but privilege on the other, the significant ways in which they continue to resist from the margins (Alfred, 2001b; Collins, 2000; Thomas & Hollenshead, 2001; West, 2008), and from a position of influence (Johnson-Bailey, 2010; Marbley, 2007;Payne & Hyle, 2002). Thus, while Black women continue to face many systemic barriers and oppressive conditions that affect their professional agendas, experiences, and outcomes (Esnard & Cobb-Roberts, 2018; Evans, 2007; Griffin, Bennett, & Harris, 2013), we must consider how they continue to breach the walls of academe and break down institutional barriers, whether as faculty or administrators (Esnard & Cobb-Roberts, 2019; Gardner, Barrett, Pearson, 2014; Jean-Marie, 2004). As Black women working and researching in the ivory tower, we came to question the experiences of similarly situated women in general, and more specifically, those that held positions of leadership within the academy. In fact, the idea for this edited volume came out of a need to deepen our understandings of the countless stories but more critically the strategies employed by Black women who continue to confront and push back within a highly coveted, but closed space in higher education.