The Room Where It Happens: Reflections on Being a Black Woman in the Academy

• DOI: 10.1177/2153368720974744
• Author: Patricia Y. Warren
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Date: 01 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Room Where It Happens:

Reflections on Being

a Black Woman in the Academy

Patricia Y. Warren

1

Abstract

The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2013 as a result of George Zim-

merman being acquitted for the death of Trayvon Martin. Until recently, the

movement was mostly limited to violence inflicted on Black and Brown bodies at the

hands of the police. More recently scholars, have extended the movement to include

the experiences of minorities in academia with the purpose of addressing the

institutional biases along with the racial and ethnic micro-aggressions that result

from them. The purpose of this essay is to explore micro-aggressions and how they

have impacted my life as a Black female scholar in the academy. In my discussion, I

provide direct accounts of racialized and gendered experiences that have shaped

me. The experiences highlighted in this essay reflect the broader challenges that

minority faculty experience when they attempt to be gain visibility and respect in

their disciplines.

Keywords

race/ethnicity, critical race theory, stereotypes, micro-aggressions, white privilege

In 1903, W.E.B. DuBois published The Souls of Black Folk where he argued that the

problem of the 20th century will be the problem of the color line. Confronting the

color line is a conundrum that every major institution in the United States continues to

face well into the 21st century. In education, minority youth continue to struggle in

academic environments where they are confronted with lower achievement and

stricter disciplinary policies (Kupchik, 2010; U.S. Department of Education, 2016).

During 2019 for example, Black and Latinx students scored 19–30 points below White

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College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Patricia Y. Warren, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, 112 South

Copeland Street, Eppes Hall, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.

Email: pwarren@fsu.edu

Race and Justice

2021, Vol. 11(3) 347–354

ªThe Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368720974744

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