ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7683-9747  

Year

2026

Season

Summer

Paper Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Silverfield College of Education and Human Services

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Department

Education

Committee Chairperson

Dr. Paul Parkison

Second Advisor

Dr. Raven Robinson-Wilson

Third Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Gregg

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Shana Russell

Abstract

This dissertation examines how racialized and gendered expectations shape the professional experiences of Black women in predominantly white educational spaces. Drawing on a three-article format, this study investigates how Black women navigate institutional conditions that depend on their labor yet fail to provide adequate support. Grounded in Black Feminist Marxist Thought and emerging Black Womanist Theory, the study centers the emotional, relational, and spiritual dimensions of Black women’s labor, extending traditional analyses of work, leadership, and resilience.

Of Fire and Fabrication: A Systematic Review on the Myth of Strength and Erasure of Black Women in White Educational Spaces reveals that while scholarship frequently documents emotional labor and overextension, it often fails to theorize how these conditions become normalized within institutional contexts. Casting Shadows and Claiming Light: The Silent Struggle of Black Women in White Professional Spaces employs narrative inquiry to explore the lived experiences of Black women educators, highlighting patterns of surveillance, visibility management, and the ongoing labor required to maintain credibility and authority. Findings illustrate how navigation functions as labor, requiring continuous self-monitoring and adjustment in response to shifting institutional expectations. Tipping Out the Cauldron: Unveiling the Cost of Black Girl Magic builds on these findings by advancing a conceptual framework that reframes commonly celebrated narratives of strength and resilience as responses to systemic conditions rather than inherent traits.

Across the study, findings demonstrate that Black women’s labor operates as a critical yet often unrecognized component of institutional functioning, sustaining environments that depend on their emotional and relational work. The study further reveals how institutional practices often substitute recognition for meaningful support, reinforcing cycles of overextension. In response, Black Womanist Theory is offered as a conceptual synthesis that integrates structural analysis with lived, embodied, and relational experience, providing a framework for understanding both the extraction and experience of labor. Implications for educational leadership include the need to move beyond individualistic notions of resilience and toward systemic approaches that address conditions of inequity, redistribute labor, and create environments that support sustainability, well-being, and collective care.

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