The intersection of black feminism and gendered racism has formed a complex narrative that impacts black women's leadership, specifically in predominantly white workspaces. As society wrestles with persistent gender and racial disparities, the stories of black women stand out as both bold and brilliant but stifle their professional opportunities and experiences in academia and education. Despite standing as the most educated demographic nationally and displaying unmatched levels of labor market participation, black women are alarmingly scarce in leadership roles across sectors, also facing significant challenges as educational leaders. Their ascent to higher positions is often impacted by barriers stemming from damaging stereotypes such as the "angry black woman" or the dangerous transition from being perceived as a "work pet" to a "work threat." Against this backdrop, Sharing the Legacy and Narrative Leadership Experiences of Black Women in Education explores black women's challenges, unraveling the narratives that need attention, understanding, and urgent action. Sharing the Legacy and Narrative Leadership Experiences of Black Women in Education invites readers to step into the shoes of black women as leaders in academia and education, providing an authentic and raw glimpse into their experiences. The book challenges societal workplace expectations and attempts to reshape conversations around how intersectionality cross-connects with diversity, equity, and inclusion. By intertwining powerful storytelling with compelling research, it seeks to dismantle the barriers that have hindered the progress of black women with a focus on offering relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest academic research. The book empowers leaders, educators, and organizations to become allies in the fight for a more equitable workplace for black women in leadership. It envisions a future where black women can feel empowered to be authentic while thriving and leading with unapologetic determination.

Challenging misconceptions related to Black academic achievement, this volume provides original perspectives on the policies, initiatives, and factors that facilitate the success of students of color as they progress along the educational pipeline. Grounded in an anti-deficit framework, this book offers personal narratives of Black educational leaders and professionals who discuss aspects of their educational experiences and pathways to success. With takeaways for research and practice, the individual narratives that comprise this book add to the conversation and advance important lessons gained from personal stories about achieving success for Blacks and other minority students.

Truth Without Tears is a timely and insightful portrait of Black women leaders in American colleges and universities. Carolyn R. Hodges and Olga M. Welch are former deans who draw extensively on their experience as African American women to account for both the challenges and opportunities facing women of color in educational leadership positions. Hodges and Welch deftly combine autobiography with more general information and observations to fashion an interesting and helpful book about higher education leadership. They offer their perspectives on being the first deans of color in two predominately white institutions in an effort to fill a gap that exists in the literature on deanships in higher education. Each chapter offers reflections or examples of the authors’ particular experiences that have taught them how to become effective leaders. The book engages readers to consider ways of learning how to balance the need for action with “deliberative and deliberate approaches” that are grounded in maintaining decisiveness, accountability, and allegiance to organizational goals, especially those that support inclusiveness and diversity of perspective. A nuanced and complex depiction of successful leadership, Truth Without Tears is a valuable resource for current and aspiring higher education leaders.

The purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to gain first-hand knowledge on the experiences of Black women narrating their experiences in educational leadership positions within an urban school district. Although visible shackles are no longer apparent on Black women, their muted voices are a reminder that this sub-group is still portrayed by others speaking for them. This issue alone shows a historical and present problem. The research questions used to examine research participants’ experiences were (1) What barriers or challenges do Black women in educational leadership positions identify? (2) How were district actions identified as supports to Black women in educational leadership positions? (3) What mentoring do Black women in educational leadership positions experience? Data from this qualitative narrative research data were gathered from 75-minute, semi-structured interviews of 13 Black women who voiced their experiences as educational leaders within an urban school district.

Women Leading Education across the Continents is the first collection of research about and stories of women in basic and higher education leadership from every region of the globe. The chapters are authored by scholars representing every continent, including a keynote from the first all female team to traverse Antarctica. The book captures not only statistical data about the position of women in basic and higher education in over 17 countries, but relates compelling insights and stories about the challenges that women face in leadership, the limited access to education by young women, and some strategies for success that have fanned a flame to light the way for both women and men to follow toward equity and social justice.

Black women’s marginalized experience has often superseded their impact at their respective workplaces. Usually, Black women’s ways of knowing and leadership are composed of practices that do not fit perfectly in our heterogenous ideal of leadership. It is crucial to share Black women’s ways of knowing and understand how Black women navigate their roles. Black Women’s Formal and Informal Ways of Leadership discusses how Black women’s pedagogies shape their navigation through life through formal and informal leadership roles. It empowers the various voices of Black women and challenges the idea of who we look at as leaders. Covering topics such as perception bias, emotional intelligence, and Black women stereotypes, this premier reference source is a dynamic resource for business leaders and managers, entrepreneurs, human resource managers, librarians, faculty and administrators of education, students of higher education, government officials, researchers, and academicians.

This groundbreaking study fills a significant gap in educational research literature as it explores the problem of persistent and pervasive underachievement by African-American students in the public schools of the United States. Teacher quality, school resources, socio-economic status of students, cultural relevance of curriculum, and school leadership are a few of the factors that contribute to achievement or the lack of it by these students. Lomotey focuses on the impact of the African-American principal's leadership, its effect on the academic achievement of African-American students, and the day-to-day activities associated with school leadership. An early chapter reviews relevant research focusing on the connection between principal leadership and academic achievement in general. The extracted recurring qualities then form the basis for exploring whether African-American principals in more successful African-American schools possess the specific qualities suggested by the research. Lomotey finds that three additional and important characteristics are shared by his sample of principals: a deep commitment to the education of African-American children; a strong compassion for and understanding of both their students and the local community; and a sincere confidence in the ability of all African-American children to learn. The text is enhanced by two dozen tables that present the information discussed. An early chapter details the study's methodology with an overview and discussion of sampling and measurement procedures. Useful to students of educational administration, African American Principals: School Leadership and Success will also be of value in courses focusing on urban studies, school effectiveness, and school leadership. Black Studies programs addressing African-American education in America will find this a most necessary text. African-American educators--scholars and practitioners--as well as parents, community leaders, and other lay people will profit from the up-to-the-minute insights presented here.

Black Women and Social Justice Education explores Black women's experiences and expertise in teaching and learning about justice in a range of formal and informal educational settings. Linking historical accounts with groundbreaking contributions by new and rising leaders in the field, it examines, evaluates, establishes, and reinforces Black women's commitment to social justice in education at all levels. Authors offer resource guides, personal reflections, bibliographies, and best practices for broad use and reference in communities, schools, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Collectively, their work promises to further enrich social justice education (SJE)—a critical pedagogy that combines intersectionality and human rights perspectives—and to deepen our understanding of the impact of SJE innovations on the humanities, social sciences, higher education, school development, and the broader professional world. This volume expands discussions of academic institutions and the communities they were built to serve.

Effective leadership is the necessary ingredient in achieving educational improvement in schools; everything rises and falls on leadership. For School Leaders of Color, this leadership imperative is more difficult than it is for their White counterparts. Concomitantly with this leadership necessity are the social and academic disparities of racism, student poverty, lack of resources, just to name a few. Yet these leaders have courageously accepted their role to disrupt low performance and thus they have created environments where students learn and professors teach. These leaders are "purveyors of change." The purpose of this educational preparation supplemental text is to share stories of these exceptional leaders in the field and in the academy. The experiences shared by the various authors cover four important areas in leadership: Culture & Climate; Student Success; Resilience, Persistence, & Turnaround; and Social Justice. The authors have shared some deeply personal issues and triumphs. These are the stories that resonate more deeply with students and that with these types of stories, the theory to practice bridge is successfully crossed. While many of the chapters include narratives of resilience and triumph in the context of the P-12 education system, the overarching themes and suggestions can be transmuted to any industry.

Effective leadership is the necessary ingredient in achieving educational improvement in schools; everything rises and falls on leadership. For School Leaders of Color, this leadership imperative is more difficult than it is for their White counterparts. Concomitantly with this leadership necessity are the social and academic disparities of racism, student poverty, lack of resources, just to name a few. Yet these leaders have courageously accepted their role to disrupt low performance and thus they have created environments where students learn and professors teach. These leaders are “purveyors of change.” The purpose of this educational preparation supplemental text is to share stories of these exceptional leaders in the field and in the academy. The experiences shared by the various authors cover four important areas in leadership: Culture & Climate; Student Success; Resilience, Persistence, & Turnaround; and Social Justice. The authors have shared some deeply personal issues and triumphs. These are the stories that resonate more deeply with students and that with these types of stories, the theory to practice bridge is successfully crossed. While many of the chapters include narratives of resilience and triumph in the context of the P-12 education system, the overarching themes and suggestions can be transmuted to any industry.