Managing Multiple Identities: The Intersection of Race and Gender for Black Female Student Affairs Professionals in Predominantly White Institutions.

The study explored the gendered racial identity status of Black female student-affairs professionals and how their identity status influences both their personal and professional experiences at predominately White institutions. The existing scholarly literature has focused on females in higher education in general; very few studies have focused on issues specifically the intersectionality of gender and race regarding Black female student-affairs professionals at predominantly White institutions. The research question that explored this phenomenon was: what is the experience as a Black female working as a student-affairs professional in a predominately White institution? A generic qualitative approach was used to provide an understanding of the experience of these women. The study included eight Black female professionals working in the division of student affairs at an upper Midwest accredited four-year institution in higher education. The data revealed experiences of being stereotyped, devalued, silenced, ignored, and undermined while navigating their professional world as a double minority. This study also highlighted how these Black women’s racial pride, sense of self, love and support from their families and their commitment to the students they served contributed to their success as professionals.