There is a dearth of consolidated information on the psychology of Black womanhood, and it makes sense that Spelman College, the nation’s only institution dedicated to the education and study of Black womanhood, would lead the conversation to fill in the gaps.
Black academics, Black practitioners, Black feminists, and their supporters are paving the way for more modern, more responsive solutions that will help Black women thrive and reach the joy they so need and deserve — and Spelman faculty and alumni are leading the conversation. In the second annual symposium on the psychology of Black womanhood, Spelman associate professor of psychology and 2009 graduate Dr. Danielle Dickens led participants through a day of reflection, discovery, and celebration of Black womanhood.
“This symposium was designed to create a space where scholarship, lived experiences, and community come together to center Black women’s voices, stories, health, brilliance, and resilience within psychology and beyond,” Dickens said in her opening remarks.
The March 5 event featured several top scholars, including Dr. Beverly Guy Sheftall, a Spelman alumna and founding director of the college’s Women’s Research and Resource Center (1981), Dr. Jameta Barlow, a member of Spelman’s class of 2001 and assistant professor of Writing, Health Policy and Management at George Washington University, and Dr. Kanika Bell, (Spelman ’97), a licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology at Clark Atlanta University.
In her talk, “Roots, Resilience, and Joy: Thriving in Our Mental Health Truths,” Bell detailed the challenges Black women face, inside and outside of the classroom, of constantly living in survival mode.
“The challenge in this survival mode model, is that we are doing way too much, is that our worth is based on our performance,” she said. “The whole idea that your value is in what you can produce.”
“If you are operating from that survival goal, that’ll have you taking on too many tasks at work, that’ll have you sitting across from a date explaining what you bring to the table,” she continued.“As soon as somebody asks you what you bring to the table, I want you to rise from that table. We’re not a match.”
The insights the speakers shared all undergirded the idea that Black women can step into their power and change the narrative for themselves, while pursuing joy in the process. And so, it is no surprise that black feminist organizing was discussed as a tool for reclaiming that power. Black feminist organizing, once seen as “man-hating” and “divisive,” Guy Sheftall said, is making a come back as people grow in their understanding of what it really means.
“It gives me hope that Black feminism is not a nasty, dirty word in the Black community the way that it used to be [in the mid and late 1960s],” she said. “I am hopeful that this generation of young feminist, not all of whom, by the way, are women. So, I see even among a younger generation of Black men, particularly on college campuses, embracing Black feminist politics and Black feminist theorists.”
Central to the theme of power is joy, the scholars said, and Bell talked about how embracing both joy and rest are crucial to the wellness of Black women across the diaspora.
“Joy mode is a feeling of safety in that nervous system, allowing you to authentically express your emotions, however they may arise, and to create space for play and rest,” Bell said. Pursuing joy promotes healing and well-being, she added.
But rest feels elusive when battling against centuries of survival, and sometimes, Bell contended, making space to “just be” is the antidote. “Let’s say that we’re using joy as an actual trauma treatment. We know that Black women experience racial trauma, intergenerational trauma, and chronic microaggressions. Those are the things that are ‘good enough,’ Bell said.
She continued on, saying “good enough” is also a survival responsive to a social and political environment that has been historically hostile to Black womanhood. And that has consequences.
Dr. Kimber Shelton shared a story that brought this lesson home. Shelton is a licensed psychologist and Owner of KLS Counseling & Consulting Services. In the story, her mother decided to go to therapy to work through all she had been through as a Black woman. The therapist essentially pointed out all the accomplishments and expressed that Shelton’s mother was doing well. While it served as a salve at the time, it didn’t address the root of what she was feeling from being in survival mode all the time.
Frustrated that there were “no interventions, no tools or skills,” her mother’s issues returned. “There’s this focus for Black women on all the hardships and the pains, or there’s focus on how strong and wonderful we are. And that was: she’s strong, she’s wonderful, she’s competent.” This is why, Shelton noted, that cultural competence is critical for better serving those living in Black womanhood. “One in five women, Black women, report being treated unfairly [by our healthcare providers]. That’s 20 percent of us not getting the care that we need.”
While Shelton reminded the audience that training and having culturally competent Black therapists is a critical part of addressing these issues, panelists emphasized that the most important thing Black women can do is choose joy.
“For us, joy is a therapeutic tool,” Bell said. “I don’t just want to be okay. I want to thrive. I want to be amazing. Optimal is not realistic? Watch.”
