The Black Professoriat: Negotiating a Habitable Space in the Academy

Although Black faculty have been present in the academy since the late nineteenth century, it has been during the twentieth century that they have established a presence which has had political, cultural, and epistemological implications. This book focuses on contemporary, successful Black scholars in the academy: they have become tenured and promoted; been recognized as noteworthy scholars, researchers, and as excellent teachers; and have served in leadership capacities. Through autoethnographic narratives that illustrate and interrogate experiences about being in the academy as gendered, race, classed, and sexually oriented others, this book captures the diverse voices of Black men and women achievers who have not only survived, but also thrived. Their candor will inspire others to negotiate normative milieu and make manifest their legitimacy and right to belong.