Learning to Read Each Other: Black Female Graduate Students Share Their Experiences at a White Research I Institution

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Building Solidarity Among Black Women and Black Men Scholars in Researching Black Women in STEM

Abstract

This paper uses Black Feminist Thought to explain the lived experiences of three Black female graduate students at a White Research I institution. Through mentoring from Black female professors, the students received instrumental and psychosocial support that helped them to navigate through their graduate level work. Common themes of identity, community service missions, and empowerment provides a thread that ties the student’s narratives together. We close by offering some suggestions for further research on the Black graduate experience and mentoring Black graduate students.

Author

• Dorothy Y. White, University of Georgia