Beyond Anecdotes: A Quantitative Examination of Black Women in Academe

Using data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates, the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, and the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System Completion Survey by Race, this paper provides a quantitative analysis of black woman as they progress through the academy as students, faculty or administrators. This paper will detail the number of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees awarded to black woman, the colleges and universities that are successful at conferring said degrees, and the professional outcomes of black women employed in academe. We find that black women earn twice as many degrees as black men and that younger black female professors seem to face fewer barriers to success in the academy than their predecessors.