Black Women in Academia

"Being black and a woman and an academic is a metaphysical dilemma" - Ntozake Shange

Today many Black female scholars are making strides in the daily quest to overcome the barricades in academia. It is true that academia has become increasingly diverse, but strategic plans need to be developed in order to recruit, encourage, and support up and coming Black female students, assistant professors, and non-tenured professors. This not only needs to happen with both Black female scholars, but with all Black scholars looking for careers in the academic world.

Academia has often put into place a blind quadrant for Black women that makes it difficult to not only recognize, but address barriers for success. This for some is a double standard that creates many disparities in overall work production. Besides the usual school work or workload responsibilities, there is the constant job of being accepted and being Black in faculty.

Data in The Chronicle of Higher Education indicates that hiring minority women in faculty ranks has progressed slowly. And when they are hired into these positions, they receive minimal tasks that will not move them towards tenure or are given low ratings from non-color students which keep them in low faculty positions.

To make this point more of a realization, while 26 percent of college presidents are women, only 4 percent are women of color. Now why is that?

Nikki Giovanni, Black poet and activist, in her book Racism 101, talks about her own struggles at Virginia Tech. She started her position as "full" professor, but despite her many achievements, had to fight for recognition in the English department and be accepted for who she was. Even though she was well know for her poetry, many books, and activist work. She pointed out, "Between 12 and 14 percent of all Americans are Black. All of us with (higher education degrees) can't be that busy (or do not desire a job in Academia).

Being the professoriate is a very privileged group. Pity there isn't any place for Black women.

If W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the field of sociology and first Black man to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard, was shut out of many employment opportunities at all white universities because he was Black, what chances do we Black women have today in a "less" racial segregated academia.

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Until next time, “Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.” - Nikki Giovanni