ABSTRACT
The social construction of black women as gendered, ‘racialized ethnic’ beings provides potent images around which cultural truths are built. Black women thus are generally perceived as ‘powerless’ and ‘passive’ within the culture of organizations-represented here by the academy as a context of work. Yet these institutional ‘beliefs’ contrast sharply with the reality of most black women’s lives. Entering the academy as a professional is a landmark achievement for most black women intellectuals. It is so because by that time they would have triumphed against different kinds of oppressions and would have made numerous sacrifices in their quest to live their lives as women-according to their own definitions personally, socially and professionally.
