The intersection of black feminism and gendered racism has formed a complex narrative that impacts black women's leadership, specifically in predominantly white workspaces. As society wrestles with persistent gender and racial disparities, the stories of black women stand out as both bold and brilliant but stifle their professional opportunities and experiences in academia and education. Despite standing as the most educated demographic nationally and displaying unmatched levels of labor market participation, black women are alarmingly scarce in leadership roles across sectors, also facing significant challenges as educational leaders. Their ascent to higher positions is often impacted by barriers stemming from damaging stereotypes such as the "angry black woman" or the dangerous transition from being perceived as a "work pet" to a "work threat." Against this backdrop, Sharing the Legacy and Narrative Leadership Experiences of Black Women in Education explores black women's challenges, unraveling the narratives that need attention, understanding, and urgent action. Sharing the Legacy and Narrative Leadership Experiences of Black Women in Education invites readers to step into the shoes of black women as leaders in academia and education, providing an authentic and raw glimpse into their experiences. The book challenges societal workplace expectations and attempts to reshape conversations around how intersectionality cross-connects with diversity, equity, and inclusion. By intertwining powerful storytelling with compelling research, it seeks to dismantle the barriers that have hindered the progress of black women with a focus on offering relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest academic research. The book empowers leaders, educators, and organizations to become allies in the fight for a more equitable workplace for black women in leadership. It envisions a future where black women can feel empowered to be authentic while thriving and leading with unapologetic determination.

An exploration of how engaging identity and cultural heritage can transform teaching and learning for Black women educators in the name of justice and freedom in the classroom In The Spirit of Our Work, Dr. Cynthia Dillard centers the spiritual lives of Black women educators and their students, arguing that spirituality has guided Black people throughout the diaspora. She demonstrates how Black women teachers and teacher educators can heal, resist, and (re)member their identities in ways that are empowering for them and their students. Dillard emphasizes that any discussion of Black teachers’ lives and work cannot be limited to truncated identities as enslaved persons in the Americas. The Spirit of Our Work addresses questions that remain largely invisible in what is known about teaching and teacher education. According to Dillard, this invisibility renders the powerful approaches to Black education that are imbodied and marshaled by Black women teachers unknown and largely unavailable to inform policy, practice, and theory in education. The Spirit of Our Work highlights how the intersectional identities of Black women teachers matter in teaching and learning and how educational settings might more carefully and conscientiously curate structures of support that pay explicit and necessary attention to spirituality as a crucial consideration.

Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.

Offers both a theoretical and concrete example of what W. E. B. Du Bois called “spiritual strivings.”

This groundbreaking study fills a significant gap in educational research literature as it explores the problem of persistent and pervasive underachievement by African-American students in the public schools of the United States. Teacher quality, school resources, socio-economic status of students, cultural relevance of curriculum, and school leadership are a few of the factors that contribute to achievement or the lack of it by these students. Lomotey focuses on the impact of the African-American principal's leadership, its effect on the academic achievement of African-American students, and the day-to-day activities associated with school leadership. An early chapter reviews relevant research focusing on the connection between principal leadership and academic achievement in general. The extracted recurring qualities then form the basis for exploring whether African-American principals in more successful African-American schools possess the specific qualities suggested by the research. Lomotey finds that three additional and important characteristics are shared by his sample of principals: a deep commitment to the education of African-American children; a strong compassion for and understanding of both their students and the local community; and a sincere confidence in the ability of all African-American children to learn. The text is enhanced by two dozen tables that present the information discussed. An early chapter details the study's methodology with an overview and discussion of sampling and measurement procedures. Useful to students of educational administration, African American Principals: School Leadership and Success will also be of value in courses focusing on urban studies, school effectiveness, and school leadership. Black Studies programs addressing African-American education in America will find this a most necessary text. African-American educators--scholars and practitioners--as well as parents, community leaders, and other lay people will profit from the up-to-the-minute insights presented here.

The award-winning Revisioning American History series continues with this “groundbreaking new history of Black women in the United States” (Ibram X. Kendi)—the perfect companion to An Indigenous People’s History of the United States and An African American and Latinx History of the United States. An empowering and intersectional history that centers the stories of African American women across 400+ years, showing how they are—and have always been—instrumental in shaping our country. In centering Black women’s stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women’s unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today. A Black Women’s History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.

In recent decades, historically white institutions have advanced their focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion practices within their organizations. Today, many organizations feature diversity practitioners within their workforce. Despite this, many historically white institutions such as education, business, and healthcare organizations still face systemic racism from within. In the wake of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism, it is essential for historically white institutions to listen to the experiences of Black women diversity practitioners so that they may implement the necessary changes to promote a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment. The Experiences of Black Women Diversity Practitioners in Historically White Institutions centers on Black women’s experiences before, during, and after the dual pandemics at historically white higher education, corporate America, and healthcare institutions and how these experiences have affected their ability to perform their jobs. The stories and research provided offer crucial information for institutions to look inward at the cultures and practices for their organizations that directly impact Black women diversity practitioners. Covering topics such as guidance in leadership, Black woman leadership, and mindfulness training, this premier reference source is an essential resource for higher education staff and administration, Black women diversity practitioners, administration, leaders in business, hospital administration, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.