Black Women Navigating the Doctoral Journey

With the increasing focus on the critical importance of mentoring in advancing Black women students from graduation to careers in academia, this book identifies and considers the peer mentoring contexts and conditions that support Black women student success in higher education. This edited collection focuses on Black women students primarily at the doctoral level and how they have retained each other through their educational journey, emphasizing how they navigated this season of educational changes given COVID and racial unrest. Chapters illuminate what minoritized women students have done to mentor each other to navigate unwelcome campus environments laden with identity politics and other structural barriers. Shining a light on systemic structures in place that contribute to Black women's alienation in the academy, this book unpacks implications for interactions and engagement with faculty as advisors and mentors. An important resource for faculty and graduate students at colleges and universities, ultimately this work is critical to helping the academy fortify Black women's sense of belonging and connection early in their academic career and foster their success. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Sharon Fries-Britt is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. Bridget Turner Kelly is Associate Professor of Student Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA.

Acknowledgements About the Book Editors Foreword by Christine A. Stanley, Ph.D., Regents Professor of Higher Education, Texas A&M University Preface by Bridget Turner Kelly, Ph.D., University of Maryland and Sharon Fries-Britt, Ph.D., University of Maryland I. A Case for Mentoring 1. Multigenerational Reflections on the Importance of Peer Mentoring in the PhD Journey, Sharon Fries-Britt, Ph.D., University of Maryland, Bridget Turner Kelly, Ph.D., University of Maryland, Tyanna A.E. Clayton-Mallett, University of Maryland 2. Retaining Each Other: The Power of Community for African American Women Undergraduates in STEM, Joy Gaston Gayles, North Carolina State University, Chelsea Smith, North Carolina State University II. Intersectional Mentoring 3. Omittance - Inclusion: Extending the Narrative of Guided Wayfinding through Higher Education for Young Black Queer Femmes in Secondary Education, Liliana G. Gordon 4. Mek Yaad Within Academia: Afro-Caribbean Women Finding Belonging in the Academy, Stephanie Bent, University of Maryland, Kat J. Stephens, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Abigail Smith, University of Sharjah III. Peer Mentoring During a Global Pandemic 5. Strategies for Providing Grace and Space on the Journey of Multidimensional Sisterhood in the Academy, Patrice Greene, University of Maryland, College Park, Ashley Ogwo, University of Maryland, College Park, Antoinette Newsome, University of Maryland, College Park 6. Finding spaces to breathe in the academy: How Black women build sustaining communities to fortify success, Ashley Gray, Howard University, Candace N. Hall, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Krystal E. Andrews, University of Illinois, Brianna C.J. Clark, Howard University 7. "If it mattered to them, it mattered to me": How Friendship Shaped Three Black Women's Doctoral Experience During a Pandemic and Racial Injustice, A.C. Johnson, University of Alabama, Erica T. Campbell, University of Alabama, Kiara S. Summerville, University of Alabama IV. Centering Healing in Peer Mentoring 8. Cultivating a Conscious Cohort: Sisterhood as a Site of Institutional Change, Alexis Morgan Young, University of Maryland, College ParMary L. Johnson, University of Maryland, College Park, Courtney A. Douglass, University of Maryland, College Park, Blake O'Neal Turner, University of Maryland, College Park 9. "Retention Ain't Enough": The Spiritually Guided and Intersectional Narratives of Four Black Women Doctoral Students, Niah S. Grimes, Morgan State University, Roshaunda L. Breeden, North Carolina State University, Jenay F. E. Willis, University of Pittsburgh, Konadu Y. Gyamfi, University of Georgia 10. There is Only So Much a Peer Can Do, Sharon Fries-Britt, Ph.D., University of Maryland and Bridget Turner Kelly, Ph.D., University of Maryland Book Chapter Contributors