Social Justice, Visionary, and Career Project: The Discourses of Black Women Leaders at Black Colleges

Abstract

Throughout the history of African Americans, Black women have played an integral role in the social movement for equal educational opportunity for people of color. In their personal quest for an education, they were susceptible to interlocking systems of sexism and racism that permeated public and higher education. For many Black women, their coming of age was inextricably linked to the larger changing consciousness of African Americans who challenged the existing social order in new ways (Ladson-Billings, 1997; Robnett, 1997). The purpose of this chapter is to examine three projects—social justice, visionary, and career—of 12 Black women leaders in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in one southeastern state and how they connect their lived experiences and positions as educational leaders to the mission of developing the educational and social functions/capital of the Black community.