Sis I See You!: Stories of Black Women Administrators – Lifting the Veil, Stories of Black Women Administrators at HWIs

Introduction

For decades Black women administrators have contributed an unwavering wealth of knowledge, and service to higher education. One of the most known Black women is Lucy Diggs Slowe who was the first Black woman to serve as Dean of Women at any American university. While serving as the Dean of Women at Howard University, she helped shape the experiences of Black students and women administrators (Miller & Pruitt-Logan, 2012; Perkins, 2017). Slowe faced many challenges and barriers while fearlessly advocating for Black students and educators. During her tenure as Dean, Slowe worked to prepare her female students for the modern world. Her role required that she advocate for the female students at Howard, this often caused a strain between Slowe and male faculty members during her time at Howard. Slowe’s commitment to bettering the lives of Black women, while battling racism and sexism as she did her work is a story not unfamiliar to many current Black women administrators. Today little has changed as Black women administrators still face similar obstacles and challenges during their time as administrators. Black women administrators have been known to thrive at colleges and universities with little resources, access, and support to assist students and colleagues, while being asked to often work in sexist, racist, and unsupportive working environments.

While Black women administrators are bombarded with additional tasks and duties in the workplace, they experience unexpected challenges such as microaggressive behavior, unsupportive peers and supervisors, and a lack of professional development opportunities. A few examples of this are being told one is not a good “fit” (Turner, 2002), policing of hair (Patton, 2016), and lack of respect (Wilder, Bertrand, Osborne-Lampkin, 2013). Often these challenges are the result of others projected thoughts of Black women administrators that is deeply rooted in White supremacy. White supremacy is the historically based belief that White people are the superior race and oppress other racial groups. Black women administrators’ experiences can also be connected to other challenges such as the double dilemma. The double dilemma says that Black women students and administrators are both Black and women resulting in issues surrounding racism and sexism (Howard Hamilton, 2003). Black women administrators recognize and understand the challenges that exist in higher education and have developed coping mechanisms to address these concerns.

This chapter discusses the experiences of two Black women administrators in higher education as they attempt to progress professionally and personally. A literature review will be shared to dissect and understand the experiences of Black women administrators. Personal stories and narratives will also be interwoven into the chapter to connect theory to practice. Finally, recommendations for practice will be provided to help support and uplift Black women administrators in higher education.