ABSTRACT

While there has been extensive discussion on Black women’s experiences in academia, much less has been said about survival strategies for disrespectable Blackgirls climbing the ranks of ivory towers. I argue that Round the Way Blackgirls – those whose presence disrupts norms of professional assimilation - teach all Black womxn across the academic spectrum how to get more free. Centering Round the Way Blackgirls who are nontraditional undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff, this chapter explores intergenerational modalities of communal care that unapologetically invite Black womxn out of university defined roles and into authentic self expression, creative vulnerability and collective healing.