Intersectionality and Success: A Study of Black Women Teachers in Higher Education
Faculty Advisor Name
Tabitha Coates
Department
Department of Learning, Technology and Leadership Education
Description
This qualitative research study sought to explore the lived experiences of Black women teachers in the United States. Specifically, the research aimed to uncover the meanings of success among Black women teachers and the ways in which intersectionality impacts those meanings. The researcher interviewed four Producers of Knowledge (POK); two were from Virginia, North Carolina, and New York. The findings show that the participants of this study share lived experiences of systemic sexism and racism at their universities, actively pushing back on systems, stereotypes, and policies, and shared feelings regarding representation, support, and the importance of community. The implications of this study suggest that mentorship is a powerful tool to navigate unknown systems and structures and that Black women closely identify with the successes they achieve in higher education.
Academic journals and databases provide scholarship on Black women in higher education. However, very few sources venture past an understanding of intersectionality as a response to structural discrimination and acknowledge its impacts on shared meaning and sense-making. As the principles of intersectionality are rooted in Black feminism, Crenshaw’s (1991) scholarly writings are a few among many other historical sources that address intersectional oppression and responses to it. Leaders of thought, such as Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells, conducted early intersectionality work as the opportunity emerged during specific junctures of history wherein gender and race discrimination laws underwent heavy critical theorization (Crenshaw, 1989; Haynes et al., 2020). As time progressed, Black feminism (or womanism) developed into frameworks for understanding identities (such as Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality) and the societal understanding of the socialization of Black women.
However, several scholastic databases lack qualitative data on how intersectionality contributes to the experiences of Black women working in academia (Lopez et al., 2017). Specifically, limited research explores the existence of Black women who teach in higher education and the factors that influence their perceptions of success (Johnson & Fournillier, 2023). In recent decades, more literature has acknowledged intersectionality as a critical and analytical lens used primarily in higher education. Though current academic scholarship on Black women is centered on their mentorship capabilities (McConner, 2014; Johnson & Fournillier, 2023) and on their leadership in higher education (Chance, 2021; Davis & Maldonado, 2015; Johnson & Delmas, 2022), there is still limited research that expands the scholarly conversation of minority experiences in higher education (Chance, 2021; Davis & Maldonado, 2015). The research in this study expounded on the success of Black women as a historically marginalized subculture and established a sense of shared meanings of a phenomenon in their workspaces.
Intersectionality and Success: A Study of Black Women Teachers in Higher Education
This qualitative research study sought to explore the lived experiences of Black women teachers in the United States. Specifically, the research aimed to uncover the meanings of success among Black women teachers and the ways in which intersectionality impacts those meanings. The researcher interviewed four Producers of Knowledge (POK); two were from Virginia, North Carolina, and New York. The findings show that the participants of this study share lived experiences of systemic sexism and racism at their universities, actively pushing back on systems, stereotypes, and policies, and shared feelings regarding representation, support, and the importance of community. The implications of this study suggest that mentorship is a powerful tool to navigate unknown systems and structures and that Black women closely identify with the successes they achieve in higher education.
Academic journals and databases provide scholarship on Black women in higher education. However, very few sources venture past an understanding of intersectionality as a response to structural discrimination and acknowledge its impacts on shared meaning and sense-making. As the principles of intersectionality are rooted in Black feminism, Crenshaw’s (1991) scholarly writings are a few among many other historical sources that address intersectional oppression and responses to it. Leaders of thought, such as Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells, conducted early intersectionality work as the opportunity emerged during specific junctures of history wherein gender and race discrimination laws underwent heavy critical theorization (Crenshaw, 1989; Haynes et al., 2020). As time progressed, Black feminism (or womanism) developed into frameworks for understanding identities (such as Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality) and the societal understanding of the socialization of Black women.
However, several scholastic databases lack qualitative data on how intersectionality contributes to the experiences of Black women working in academia (Lopez et al., 2017). Specifically, limited research explores the existence of Black women who teach in higher education and the factors that influence their perceptions of success (Johnson & Fournillier, 2023). In recent decades, more literature has acknowledged intersectionality as a critical and analytical lens used primarily in higher education. Though current academic scholarship on Black women is centered on their mentorship capabilities (McConner, 2014; Johnson & Fournillier, 2023) and on their leadership in higher education (Chance, 2021; Davis & Maldonado, 2015; Johnson & Delmas, 2022), there is still limited research that expands the scholarly conversation of minority experiences in higher education (Chance, 2021; Davis & Maldonado, 2015). The research in this study expounded on the success of Black women as a historically marginalized subculture and established a sense of shared meanings of a phenomenon in their workspaces.
