Gray Clouds Over Ivory Towers
Struggles Facing Black, First Generation Social Work Research Doctoral Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18060/24126Keywords:
doctoral education, first-generation doctoral students, critical race theory, social capital theory, classism, Black, challengesAbstract
Black, first-generation doctoral students can be classified as those who belong to the African diaspora and come from families with parents who do not have bachelor’s degrees. Data shows that over half of Black doctoral degree recipients, across all fields, have first-generation status, and literature has shown that these students experience several challenges during their doctoral journey that their peers do not. This paper details six of these challenges for Black, first-generation research doctoral students in social work programs. These challenges result in educational disparities disfavoring these students, and, as such, social workers are compelled by our Code of Ethics to work against these forms of social injustice. This conceptual discussion uses Critical Race Theory and Social Capital Theory to explain the continued existence of these challenges, followed by recommendations that social work educators, academic institutions, and educational organizations can use to improve conditions for Black, first-generation social work research doctoral students across the country. If social work educators take this critical issue, its associated challenges, and the proposed recommendations seriously, they can begin to create safe and actively anti-racist and anti-classist academic environments that are conducive to the success of this student population.
References
Barker, M. J. (2016). The doctorate in black and white: Exploring the engagement of black doctoral students in cross race advising relationships with white faculty. Western Journal of Black Studies, 40(2), 126-140.
Bertocchi, G. (2015). Slavery, racial inequality, and education. IZA World of Labor, 2015(122), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.122
Bertocchi, G., & Dimico, A. (2012). The racial gap in education and the legacy of slavery. Journal of Comparative Economics, 40(4), 581-595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2012.04.001
Bertocchi, G., & Dimico, A. (2014). Slavery, education, and inequality. European Economic Review, 70, 197-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.04.007
Blockett, R. A., Felder, P. P., Parrish III, W., & Collier, J. (2016). Pathways to the professoriate: Exploring black doctoral student socialization and the pipeline to the academic profession. Western Journal of Black Studies, 40(2), 95-110.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood.
Brems, C., Baldwin, M., Davis, L., & Namyniuk, L. (1994). The imposter syndrome as related to teaching evaluations and advising relationships of university faculty members. The Journal of Higher Education, 65(2), 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1994.11778489
Clance, P. R. (1985). The impostor phenomenon: Overcoming the fear that haunts your success. Peachtree Pub Limited.
Clarke, M., & Fine, G. A. (2010). “A” for apology: Slavery and the discourse of remonstrance in two American universities. History & Memory, 22(1), 81-112. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/376352
Collins, P. H. (1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. HarperCollins.
Council on Social Work Education [CSWE]. (2018). 2017 statistics on social work education in the United States appendix. https://www.cswe.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=190ec3c2-1163-46bb-b0c3-717bd8434572
CSWE. (2020). 2019 statistics on social work education in the United States. https://www.cswe.org/Research-Statistics/Research-Briefs-and-Publications/2019 -Annual-Statistics-on-Social-Work-Education
Delgado, R., Stefancic, J., & Harris, A. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed.). New York University Press.
DuBois, W. E. B. (2007). The souls of black folk (B. H. Edwards (Ed.). Oxford University Press. (Original work publish 1903)
Gardner, S. K. (2013). The challenges of first-generation doctoral students. New Directions for Higher Education, 163, 43-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20064
Gardner, S. K., & Holley, K. A. (2011). “Those invisible barriers are real”: The progression of first-generation students through doctoral education. Equity and Excellence in Education, 44(1), 77-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2011.529791
Gildersleeve, R. E., Croom, N. N., & Vasquez, P. L. (2011). “Am I going crazy?!”: A critical race analysis of doctoral education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(1), 93-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2011.539472
Harris, C. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard Law Review, 106(8), 1707-1791. https://doi.org/10.2307/1341787
Haynes, C., Stewart, S., & Allen, E. (2016). Three paths, one struggle: Black women and girls battling invisibility in US classrooms. The Journal of Negro Education, 85(3), 380-391. https://doi.org/10.7709/jnegroeducation.85.3.0380
Holley, K. A., & Gardner, S. (2012). Navigating the pipeline: How socio-cultural influences impact first-generation doctoral students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 5(2), 112-121. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026840
Howard, S. (2017). Black first-generation social work doctoral students. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 37(5), 513-527. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2017.1370431
Lewis, T. T., Cogburn, C. D., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Self-reported experiences of discrimination and health: scientific advances, ongoing controversies, and emerging issues. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 11, 407-440. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032814-112728
Modlin, C. (2020, May 21). African Americans disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Cleveland Clinic Website. https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/african-americans-disproportionately-affected-by-covid-19/
Nagbe, M. N. (2019). The black (w)hole: Examining institutional racism in doctoral education, an orgcrit perspective. Texas Education Review, 8(1), 6-23. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1266294.pdf
National Association of Black Social Workers [NABSW]. (n.d.). History. NABSW Website. https://www.nabsw.org/page/History
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of ethics: English. https://www.socialworkers.org/about/ethics/code-of-ethics/code-of-ethics-english
National Science Foundation [NSF]. (2015). Doctorate recipients from US universities: 2014. https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2016/nsf16300/
NSF. (2019). Doctorate recipients from U.S. universities: 2018. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf20301/
NFS & National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2020). Doctorate recipients from U.S. universities: 2019. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21308/
Oh, H., Yang, L. H., Anglin, D. M., & DeVylder, J. E. (2014). Perceived discrimination and psychotic experiences across multiple ethnic groups in the United States. Schizophrenia Research, 157(1-3), 259-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2014.04.036
Original Steering Committee of the NABSW. (1968). Position statement of the National Association of Black Social Workers. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nabsw.org/resource/resmgr/position_statements_papers/nabsw_30_years_of_unity_-_ou.pdf
Price-Haywood, E. G., Burton, J., Fort, D., & Seoane, L. (2020). Hospitlization and mortality among Black patients and white patients with Covid-19. The New England Journal of Medicine, 382(26), 2534-2543. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa2011686
Reilly, K. (2017, November 7). 3 ways America’s elite universities benefited from slavery. Time Magazine Website. https://time.com/5013728/slavery-universities-america/
Shavers, M. C., & Moore III, J. L. (2014). Black female voices: Self-presentation strategies in doctoral programs at predominately white institutions. Journal of College Student Development, 55(4), 391-407. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2014.0040
Smith, S., & Ellis, K. (2017, September 4). Shackled legacy: History shows slavery helped build many U.S. colleges and universities. American Public Media Website. https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2017/09/04/shackled-legacy
Snyder, T. D., de Brey, C., & Dillow, S. A. (2019). Digest of education statistics 2018 (NCES 2020-009). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020009.pdf
University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work Anti-Racist Doctoral Program Student Committee. (2020). Syllabus review: Guiding questions [Unpublished student committee recommendations]. https://www.socialwork.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/ardpsc_syllabus_review_guiding_questions.pdf
Viaud, K. M. (2014).. Pursuing the doctoral degree: A symbolic interpretation of first-generation African American/Black and Hispanic doctoral students (Doctoral dissertation). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1g31w2vz
Vickers, T. (2014). The (in)visible road map: The role of mentoring for first-generation black female doctoral students at predominantly white institutions. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1477/
Washington, F. B. (1935). The need and education of Negro social workers. The Journal of Negro Education, 4(1), 76-93. https://doi.org/10.2307/2292089
Williams D. R. (2018). Stress and the mental health of populations of color: Advancing our understanding of race-related stressors. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 59(4), 466-485. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146518814251
