Postanalytical Review Examining the Unique Experiences of African American Women in Academia and Medicine

• In Event: Examined Pasts, (Un)Certain Futures in Higher Education

Abstract

This follow-up study was conducted consequently to the original narrative inquiry to determine whether the challenges and strategies of seven African American women who successfully completed terminal degrees as an M.D, Ph.D., and Ed. D. were lessened or intensified upon earning their respective degrees and entering professions in medicine and academia. The lived experiences of these women offered insight into some of the challenges in the workplace, how they coped with those challenges, and how those coping mechanisms impacted their chances of long-term success. These underrepresented African American women provided counternarratives of their journey as they navigated from adversity to goal attainment while being marginalized, disregarded, isolated, discouraged, dehumanized, and facing various forms of microaggressions.

Authors

• Roslin E. Growe, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Sophia J. Woodard, ASHANTI Consulting

• Camalyn M. Woodard, Atlanta VA Medical Center