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Private and public sector organizations have become increasingly interested in promoting diversity. Due to barriers attributed to race and gender, women and minorities often find it hard to break through the glass ceiling. Mentoring is a tool to assist with breaking through the glass ceiling. This interest has led to extensive growth in mentoring research and the design of a more expanded concept, developmental networks. Little empirical research informs our understanding of Black women in developmental networks and their political identities within those networks. This qualitative study, within the framework of grounded theory method and of case study research, examines two research questions: (1) What do Black women federal senior executives value within their developmental networks? (2) How do Black women federal senior executives construct political identity within their developmental networks? Applying the conceptual framework of Black feminist thought and developmental network support theories the study examined the developmental relationships of three Black women senior executives. This research highlights the development of a group of high achievers and the contributions of their self-identified support systems. Data analysis from unstructured person-to-person interviews, a questionnaire, and researcher theoretical memos identified the themes support network, self-definition and self-determination, and ecology of life. The most visible codes were significant friendship, workplace behavior, social network composition, and Black woman. In conclusion, the women valued relationships that produced psychosocial outcomes such as friendship, trust, honesty, direct feedback, and reciprocity. They also valued relationships where they received workplace guidance and career exposure from mentor, friend, sponsor, and ally developers within or outside of the workplace. The women developed networks that provided closeness and consisted of developers from different social arenas. They defined their political identities, roles, coping strategies for life challenges and fostered relationships that recognized the importance of ethnic/racial respect, and understanding personal strength. In addition, the women preferred informal developmental relationships with Black and male developers of different ages. Due to a small sample size, self-reported data and the application of grounded theory method, the findings of this study were interpreted with caution. Provided were recommendations for future research and practice. / Ph. D.

Thesis advisor: Patrick Proctor / Jacqueline Woodson has been writing for children, young adults, and adults for thirty-two years. She has won numerous national and international awards for her writing for young people. Her books grapple with topics like teen pregnancy and incarceration with sensitivity and compassion. Her young adult literature deserves closer examination for their potential as instructional tools for English teachers. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the history of African American children’s literature, the nature of Woodson’s contribution to contemporary African American young adult literature, and to make direct links to teaching Woodson’s YA literature in contemporary high school English classrooms. To these ends, this dissertation has three analytic chapters. In Chapter One, I present a history of African American children’s literature to situate Jacqueline Woodson’s work in the tradition of African Americans writing culturally and racially affirming text for Black children. The chapter highlights Black women who were actively writing during the Harlem Renaissance, the Chicago Black Renaissance, and the Black Arts Movement, and whose work undergirds much of Jacqueline Woodson’s success. Specifically, I highlight the works of Jessie Fauset, Effie Lee Newsome, Gwendolyn Brooks, June Jordan, and Virginia Hamilton. In Chapter Two, I analyze a set of young adult literature written by Jacqueline Woodson. Specifically, I analyzed 10 of Woodson’s YA texts with Black girl protagonists through the lenses of Black Feminist Thought, Black Queer Theory, and Black English. I identified three themes that ran through Woodson’s work and were related to the theoretical lenses: (1) claiming and naming oneself, (2) finding community and belonging, and (3) remembering. Finally, in Chapter Three I provide four sample unit plans derived from the analyses in Chapters 1 and 2. The first unit plan uses Woodson’s text as a mentor text for student self-reflection. The second unit pairs Woodson’s text with a text written by Virginia Hamilton to understand the impacts of coal mining. The third unit uses Black Feminist Thought to analyze and compare one of Woodson’s texts with an adult text written by a Black woman. In the final unit plan, students study Woodson’s memoir in verse to understand how authors use their own lived experiences to create stories. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Despite the increasing research that lists cultural incongruence in the classroom among the top factors that speaks to the disproportionate numbers of Black females obtaining STEM degrees there is limited research on the actual number of Black female science teachers at the secondary level in education and the impact this plays on Black females in science, technology, engineering, and math classrooms (STEM). The consequence of all this is that we find ourselves with Black female science teachers “missing in action,” and only 5% of Black females receiving a STEM degree. I employ critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and Black feminist thought to answer: (a) What do the stories of Black female secondary science teachers tell us about issues related to their recruitment and retention within the science teaching force? (b) How do Black female secondary science teachers explain the shortage of Black females entering the STEM field? What do they believe should be done to increase the number of Black females in the field? (c) What contributions do Black female secondary science teachers make or potentially would like to make to increase the number of Black females entering and remaining within the science teaching force? This study explores how Black women are absent in the conversation about recruitment and retention of secondary science teachers. To answer the research questions in a humanizing way, this study was conducted collectively with my participants using the qualitative methodologies of critical narratives and decolonizing methodology. Therefore, this study represents an effort to address this phenomenon by listening to the voices of Black female secondary science teachers and engaging their stories, which often have remained absent from recruitment and retention discussions, to contribute to the scholarship on the recruitment and retention of Black science teachers.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on February 26, 2010). Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Catherine A. Dobris, Ronald M. Sandwina, Kim D. White-Mills, Kristina H. Sheeler. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70).

The rationale of color-blind ideology in the socializing space of the early childhood classroom encourages that racial, cultural, and ethnic differences remain unrecognized. Demographic shifts of diverse marginalized populations within majority, White suburban schools require the analysis of dominant ideologies that potentially leave biases unchallenged. This photovoice project centered the voice of three Black, early childhood educators working within majority White suburban schools in the South to explore how they rationalized the discourse of color-blind ideology in their professional and personal lives. Findings showed that Black women's critical social location within a racialized society and their historical engagement with Black oppositional knowledge structured oppositional knowledges and embodied critiques of suburban spaces. They crafted wisdoms for engaging and navigating tensions with colleagues, parents, and administrators and nurtured embodied perspectives, resisting stereotypical images of Black women and girls. Deconstructed dominant ideologies in the socializing space of the early childhood classroom extend and modify our understanding of racialized knowledge in our educational spaces and offer transformative readings of color-blind ideology.

The dialogue around violence against women has gone from a private matter to a national audience, primarily due to the sexual violence on college campuses and a recognition that it is part of a comprehensive system of power that affects all women. Researchers have shown that sexual violence is a significant issue on college campuses and there are various demonstrations of how colleges and universities have found ways to support individuals who report these interactions. Although women of all races, ethnicities, and cultures are affected by sexual violence, how it is experienced racially and culturally is unique. African American women’s experiences are often missing from narratives because of the lack of understanding of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) an acknowledgment of the historical and ongoing oppression that they experience in both their race and gender identity. This understanding is essential because several studies show that African American women are at high risk of experiencing sexual violence (Cantor, et al., 2015) and are the least likely to disclose, not only on college campuses but in general. Although universities are making great strides to improve their support for students experiencing sexual violence, the area that continues to lack research and data explores how different cultures, specifically the African American culture, respond to and address issues of sexual violence. Given the lack of empirical information, how can African American women be supported and educated around the topic of sexual violence? With the increased sexual violence occurring on a college campus and researchers demonstrating that African American women are at higher risk of sexual assault and are the least likely to disclose their sexual violation, it is crucial to dissect the African American female college students' perspective. This qualitative study engaged participants in a semi-structured interview to understand how African American undergraduate women perceive sexual violence and how history has influenced their perception. There were six major themes identified from the study that helped provide insight into the four research questions. The findings reveal that participants in this research understand and can apply a foundational definition of sexual violence, as demonstrated through the use of the vignette method. The notion that African American women’s silence regarding sexual violence is due to a lack of awareness and education is unlikely; however, inappropriate sex education and sex-role socialization did influence disclosure patterns. The women in the study demonstrated that African American culture, history, and sex-role socialization influenced African American women’s’ perceptions of sexual violence, which resulted in barriers to help-seeking, and disclosure patterns about sexual violence. Findings revealed that there are complexities of African American women’s perceptions of sexual violence. The lack of intersectionality within messaging and educational efforts is active contributions to their silence. There were three primary recommendations for practice and policy and two primary recommendations for theory and research. These recommendations focus on communicating care and concern, including African American women's voices in decision-making processes, and understanding and honoring African American women's experiences concerning sexual violence practices. The recommendations for practice and policy are: (a.) Institutional response and care, (b.) Education and awareness, and (c.) Adopting a social justice paradigm for sexual violence; future research recommendations are (a.) peer support and research and (b.) African American women’s sexual self-acceptance. This study's findings provide insight into African American undergraduate women’s perceptions of sexual violence and its influence on help-seeking and disclosure patterns. It also provided a focused lens on how intersectionality assists African American women in navigating environments that have not traditionally included them. / Educational Leadership

Recent events- including the overlapping pandemics of hyper-visible racism, policebrutality, economic downturn, climate crises, and the Covid-19 virus- have reified the significance of teacher diversity to counter structural inequalities in education. Of particular concern are low-income urban schools. While greater teacher diversity exists in urban schools, Black teachers - and Black women in particular- experience high turnover compared to their white and male counterparts. Through a contextual analysis of Black women teachers, the purpose of this study was to explore intersectionality and identity negotiation by investigating whether professional experiences and decisionmaking were moderated by ethno-racial and gender identities. Multiple sources of data were collected regarding eight self-identified Black women of the African diaspora with at least two years of experience in urban schools. Analysis of demographic surveys, open-ended responses, and three rounds of semi-structured interviews yielded ten themes: 1) supplementing curriculum with counter-narratives and role models, 2) facilitating conversations about race-related current events, 3) teaching the truth about American history, 4) guiding students to navigate a racialized society, 5) experiencing microaggressions in interracial interactions, 6) disengaging from diversity initiatives, 7) participating in supportive intra-racial relationships, 8) avoiding gendered racial stereotypes, 9) pursuing desired ends, and 10) redefining professionalism. The result of this study adds to the research base regarding intersectionality and identity negotiation as factors influencing teachers of color in urban schools. Additional recommendations are also given to guide research, practice, and policy. / Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies