All Eyez on Me: On Being Black, Female, and a First-Gen Leader in the Academy

When and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood … then and there the whole … race enters with me.

—Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South

It is not the responsibility of black women to tailor who they are and how they express themselves because of our white and male-dominated society.

—Rebecca Lais, "The Purposeful Silencing of Black Women in Educational Leadership"

If you are from around the way, you know that there are two types of education: that which is formal, from the hallowed halls of the academy, and the other, informal, from the university of hard knocks. Both served me well in my leadership roles at the University of Delaware (UD), my former institution.¹ As the former chair of a small but mighty department, I was not naïve enough to believe that just because I had assumed a leadership role—one of a very few African Americans to serve in that role at that time—I had been magically accepted into the fraternal order of academic brotherhood. I say brotherhood because most leadership roles at my institution, and I've come to understand at many institutions across the country, are occupied by those who are white and/or male. Because these systems tend to replicate themselves, that is, those in positions of power tend to mentor and groom for leadership those individuals who look like themselves—breaking this cycle requires courageous and intentional interventions that support successful succession planning in leadership built on the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

For me, this intervention came in the form of an initiative introduced by the African Heritage Caucus (AHC) at UD. They had noticed that very few African heritage faculty and staff were in leadership and executive positions in the highest ranks of the institution, and they further realized that there was no mechanism in place on campus to create career pathways to these positions either formally or informally. The cochairs of this caucus met with upper administration and suggested that resources (whether in-kind or financial) be allocated to fund a shadowing initiative that would allow nominated faculty and/or staff to assume leadership roles in certain units and departments under the guidance of a mentor. The program was approved.

Once approved, the AHC then went about the business of selecting individuals to serve in these apprentice roles. I am not sure how that list was compiled or who was actually on the list, but I know I was one of the people nominated. My colleague, who was one of the cochairs, informed me that my peers on campus had spoken of my potential to serve in a greater leadership capacity. They knew of my wide-ranging committee work both nationally and at the departmental, collegiate, and institutional levels. They felt this work was great preparation for this opportunity, and they asked me to not only consider the nomination, but to also consider what sort of leadership position I might find amenable to my career goals. I was a tenured associate professor at the time and had been for about five years.

I had never really thought about administrative work as a career path. I love to teach and being with students reminds me of why I entered the academy in the first place. I serve as mentor to a number of students from all backgrounds—but my kinship with students of color is life-changing and spiritually affirming. In them I see the promise of the ancestors. In me they see themselves reflected in the authentic and vibrant exchange of knowledge about the richness of African heritage and about cultural resilience and reinvention despite systemic racism, sexism, and inequities. They see what they can do and whom they can become because there are centuries of struggle and triumph to prove it. And these students are affirmed in ways spoken and unspoken in the classroom. This intellectual engagement would serve as primers for their experiences as global citizens. I saw a number of these students who majored...