As a Black female psychologist who has worked in many settings —
most recently in a university setting — and as a student who attended
a predominantly White university in the Northeast, I can vividly recall
the feelings of belonging and support that I experienced in meeting
other members of the Black Graduate Student Association. Only within
that fellowship at the predominantly White university which I attended
did I feel whole.
As such, I found reading Black Women in the Academy to be extremely
gratifying personally. A volume such as this not only illuminates the
complexity of the university setting for Black women, it also validates
so many of the experiences that are often encountered in isolation.
This book would have been timely a decade ago, and it will be timely a
decade from now.
Black Women deals with issues such as quality of life, quality of
education, institutional ranking, student recruitment and retention,
and faculty status and tenure. Lois Benjamin has focused on the
identities of race and gender within the wide spectrum of diversity.
While many experiences are common among women — and, with subtle
variations, common among minorities — Black women are confronted with
the entanglements of two usually easy-to-identify minority-status
groups.
The book is a collection of thirty essays which are divided into
seven categories concerning Black women in higher education: an
overview, alternative paradigms, faculty, administrators, social
dynamics of academic life, diverse academic settings, and future
prospects. There is a in each section, and a wonderful opportunity to
listen to the voices of women from all over the country who are willing
to share their most personal insights. Reading these essays is like
sitting down and chatting with a sister, or listening in on an
otherwise personal conversation.
I immediately read the overview, administrator, and the future
section. Then I combed the other sections for topics of particular
relevance to me. I was struck by the breadth of the topics and by the
interconnectedness of each section. There are tangible life reminders
about the impact of our history on the challenges Black women face
today.
The idea that our education alone is sufficient to qualify us for
the jobs that fall within the scope of education is repeatedly
challenged. The challenge is to not become so caught up in the daily
aspects of our various jobs that we lose sight of the bigger picture.
Surviving and succeeding in the academic environment demands astute
decision making at both the conscious and the unconscious level. Those
decisions make up the paths which we follow through the “promises and
perils” of the academy.
Thus, we must be aware of the particular history of the institution
where we work. And we must also be aware of the politics within the
departments that are relevant to our careers. While Beverly M. John
points out that “we are so intent on survival that we just keep going,”
she and Shelby F. Lewis challenge us to know ourselves individually and
collectively. They encourage us to nurture our essence so that we can
participate in the new master plan” for the next century.
