Yes, Black Lives Matter, but so do Black scholarship and Black professors, too.
Many Black professors—particularly those at predominantly White institutions—have long felt that the academy has been an isolating place.
In recent years, that isolation has become even more pronounced, as we’ve witnessed the vicious assaults on Black scholarship and the silencing of Black voices by colleges and universities that have disciplined scholars for voicing their views on social media about a wide array of topics.
And while many colleges and universities claim to have made great strides in recruiting Blacks to their faculty, many Black faculty are not staying. They are increasingly retreating from academia and putting their credentials to use in other sectors.
And that’s a shame, because all students need and should be instructed by Black professors.
There is, however, reason to be hopeful. This weekend, hundreds of scholars—some veteran, some graduate students and some newly-minted Ph.D.’s—gathered in Atlanta for the 5th annual Black Doctoral Network conference, an interdisciplinary convening that brings Black scholars together for networking, strategizing and sharing their work with each other.
“I get rejuvenated just being here every year and being able to be among other Blacks who are encouraging and supportive,” said one Black faculty member who teaches at a public university in Pennsylvania. “Despite our research and our teaching, so many of us are told by our colleges and universities that our scholarship does not really matter and that we should just be happy that we have a job. Being here at the Black Doctoral Network is affirmation that we do matter and that there is strength in our numbers.”
