ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a historical perspective regarding Black women and higher education and highlights important and influential movements and significant events for Black women in higher education. Every aspect, from access to higher education to areas of study available to Black women, has been affected by their unique intersections of race, gender, class, religion or spirituality, and sexual orientation. Though the US, historically, has had moments of increased access to higher education for Black persons, such as postbellum, during the 1960s Civil Rights Era, and in the 1990s, this increased access has occurred differently for Black women. Yet, with the founding of historically Black colleges and universities the opportunity for Black women to attain higher education would drastically increase. The Black sorority movement played a major role in giving Black collegiate women opportunities for leadership, social action, and community building. Black women have been making significant gains in college enrollment.
