"There's no struggle like a Black girl struggle": Black college women and their experiences with gendered racial microaggressions at a predominately white institution
Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This research illuminates how racism and sexism intersect and influence Black women’s college experiences at a predominately white university. Peers and faculty members can make Black women feel inferior or out of place in predominately white spaces through the use of microaggressions, which are offensive and often subtle actions or comments directed at a member of a marginalized group that unconsciously reinforce stereotypes. By utilizing 19 in-depth interviews with Black female undergraduates at a large public university in the Mid-Atlantic region, I find that Black women at this institution are experiencing microaggressions in multiple spaces on their college campus. The respondents experienced gendered racial microaggressions in the classroom and in predominately white social spaces. Intraracial interactions between Black women and Black men resulted in gender microaggressions and gendered interactions in a same race context.