The hostility Black women face in higher education carries dire consequences

Black Owned Newspapers And Blogs

News / Black Owned Newspapers And Blogs 35 Views 0 comments

Isolation can make opportunities elusive. fotostorm via Getty Images by Ebony Aya, Macalester College Isolated. Abused. Overworked. These are the themes that emerged when I invited nine Black women to chronicle their professional experiences and relationships with colleagues as they earned their Ph.D.s at a public university in the Midwest. I featured their writings in to get my Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. The women spoke of being silenced. “It’s not just the beating me down that is hard,” one participant told me about constantly having her intelligence questioned. “It is the fact that it feels like I’m villainized and made out to be the problem for trying to advocate for myself.” The women told me they did not feel like they belonged. They spoke of routinely being isolated by peers and potential mentors. One participant told me she felt that peer community, faculty mentorship and cultural affinity spaces were lacking. Because of the isolation, participants often felt that they were missing out on various opportunities, such as funding and opportunities to get their work published. Participants also discussed the ways they felt they were duped into taking on more than their fair share of work. “I realized I had...

0 Comments