Our Separate Ways, With a New Preface and Epilogue

 

INTRODUCTION

Foundations on Which This Study Was Built

As black women academics going through twists and turns in our own careers, we became curious about the career experiences of black women executives. Like us, they were few in number, often the sole black woman in their companies, and were also in highly visible positions of authority. Did they, too, experience discrimination in their organizations? How did they perceive their roles? What were the obstacles they experienced? What were some of the joys of being in those positions? And how did their experiences differ from white women?

When we looked to the managerial literature, we were dismayed to find little information. The stories of black women were just not there. Take, for example, ...