Harris's weighty ruminations may serve as either a cautionary tale or a wake-up call for Black women readers, young and older, who are considering higher education. Readers interested in social issues within academia should also peruse the book.—Anjelica Rufus-Barnes —Library Journal
Recent controversies with legacy admittances to universities in the United States make this book a timely volume for readers wanting more background on the topic of racism in academia. Black Women, Ivory Tower is highly recommended for academic and public libraries and for readers who are interested in systemic racism and higher education. —Booklist
"In what is at once a cautionary tale and an inspiring story of survival and lifelong healing, Harris courageously disrupts the respectability politics that silence Black women and girls. In so doing, she gifts her readers with a clear-eyed, beautifully written critique of white supremacy, sexism, and class inequality in academia. This powerful and insightful book is a love letter to Black students and scholars, past and present." —Crystal M. Fleming, professor of sociology at SUNY Stony Brook, and author of Rise Up! How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy
"Dr. Harris makes a valuable contribution to literature that critiques the meritocracy myth. I recognized many facets of my own journey through the academy, and I think many other Black scholars will too. For those unfamiliar with what it means to be a Black woman in the academy, this is an essential book." —Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, cosmologist, physicist, and author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
"In this deeply personal and powerfully political book, Dr. Jasmine L. Harris writes movingly about the desire to belong in organizations premised on racial and gender exclusion, and America's long history of denying equal educational opportunity to Black people. Dr. Harris's journey shows the personal toll that America's separate and unequal educational system can inflict on successful Black Americans." —Victor Ray, F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology and African American Studies, University of Iowa; nonresident fellow in governance studies, The Brookings Institution
01/19/2024
Harris (African American studies, Univ, of Texas, San Antonio) uses research and her own experiences in this searing critique of the treatment of Black women on college campuses. When Harris attended Vassar College in 2001, she felt like an outsider. The presence of other Black students was rare; Black professors even rarer. Many of those she encountered were legacy students who were familiar with the campus and came from upper-class families. From a middle-class family herself, Harris attended Vassar on a scholarship that paid for half of her tuition. She went into student-loan debt to help pay the other half. She attributes white supremacy culture, systemic racism, and misogynoir to the negative and at times hostile experiences that she and her research participants had at predominantly white universities. Each chapter goes in-depth into barriers Black women may face while attending school. Along the way, she discusses past protests at other universities, the young women from the Little Rock Nine, and the importance of Black teachers. VERDICT Harris's weighty ruminations may serve as either a cautionary tale or a wake-up call for Black women readers, young and older, who are considering higher education. Readers interested in social issues within academia should also peruse the book.—Anjelica Rufus-Barnes
