African Americans in the Higher Education Workplace Context: Experiencing and Coping With Racial Microaggressions

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-6 - Addressing Racism in the Academy: Experiences of Faculty of Color

Abstract

Racial microaggressions are subtle, denigrating messages or behaviors expressed towards people of color. This study used a CRT lens and explored how African Americans in higher education workplaces experienced and coped with racial microaggressions. The participants in this study included seven African American instructors/professors and administrators whose employment spanned across a variety of higher education contexts. The emerging themes indicated that participants experienced an array of racial microaggressions that may be categorized as: (a) racial microassaults and (b) racial microinvalidations. Additionally, the participants dealt with race-related stress experienced in the workplace by engaging in adaptive coping strategies such as (a) family engagement, (b) self-advocacy, and (c) separating home and work life.

Authors

• Oriana T. Johnson

• Angela M White, North Carolina State University

• Callie Womble, North Carolina State University

• Jessica T. Decuir-Gunby, North Carolina State University

• Whitney McCoy, North Carolina State University