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Racialized class formation is a process in which both racial formation and class formation shape the experiences of African Americans in the stratification system. This occurs for blacks in differing social classes. However, this chapter focuses on African Americans in the professional middle class. The professional middle class as a whole has grown substantially under postindustrialism. Racialized class formation has been greatly shaped by the nature of state policy regarding citizenship rights and has varied in the transition from the pre-civil rights era to the post-civil rights era. This chapter utilizes historical, interview, and secondary data to analyze experiences of the “first generation” of black professionals to integrate employment in mainstream institutions after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The focus is on the processes of recruitment, hiring, and promotion, as well as relations with clientele among those black professionals and how their middle class employment experiences are racialized.

As a Black Anglophone Caribbean woman, I present some reflections of my professional development journey, stemming from the early beginnings in my home country leading to the United States ivory tower. While many stories have been told of the Black woman in academe, little has been shared about the professional development history of the Black Caribbean woman who has made significant strides in US higher education. In telling my story, I begin with a snapshot of the history of experiences in my home country and in the United States since the contexts of these experiences influence how I respond to daily life's events as a faculty and associate dean at a top tier research university. After this historical portrait, I highlight some critical events that contributed to my transformation of self and ideology in the United States, how I came to terms with being a racialized minority in predominantly white professional spaces, and my approaches to the management of discriminatory and hegemonic practices in such spaces. Lastly, I conclude with some thoughts on how women of color can proactively manage their professional careers in higher education.

The nation's first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were founded before the end of the U.S. Civil War. However, most were established in the post-Civil War era, through the Freedmen's Bureau and other organizations such as the American Missionary Association (AMA) when the U.S. federal government initiated an organized effort to educate newly freed slaves (Hoffman, 1996). Additional support for HBCUs arose from the second Morrill Act of 1890, which provided opportunities for all races in those states where Black students were excluded from public higher education. Thus, since their founding in the 1800s, the nation's HBCUs have had as their missions to provide access to higher education for the disenfranchised and underprivileged of our society. Today, these institutions continue to make significant contributions in educating African American and other underrepresented minority students, particularly in the areas of science and engineering. Although they comprise only 3% of U.S. institutions of higher education, HBCUs in 2008 awarded 20% of the baccalaureate degrees earned by Blacks in science and engineering (National Science Foundation, 2011).

New York City’s status as a majority “minority” city is reflected in many local neighborhoods that exemplify the racial and ethnic diversity of the urban landscape in the 21st century. In this quintessential immigrant city, the relative share of foreign-born has reached levels not seen since the historic immigrant wave at the turn of the last century (Foner, 2000; Scott, 2002). While “all the nations under heaven” are represented among old and new New Yorkers, researchers find that patterns of residential segregation persist and in fact, have worsened especially for African Americans (Beveridge, 2001; Logan, 2001). The racial balkanization of New York City, however, is tempered by the expansion of “polyethnic” or “global” neighborhoods. These racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods are found throughout New York City but their concentration in the borough of Queens is notable. Moreover, the magnitude of ethnic diversity in these neighborhoods has “no parallel in previous waves of immigration” (Foner, 2000, p. 58).

The role gender plays in academia has provided unique experiences and challenges for women (Hill, Leinbaugh, Bradley, & Hazler, 2005). Inequalities in salary, as well as promotion and tenure, are issues women in higher education have had to endure since their entrance into the academy. For women of color there is an additional layer to their struggles that is predicated on the impact of race and ethnicity, all synergistically affecting how women of color enter, negotiate, and are retained within academia. This chapter explores themes around the issues that require women of color to subjugate the self to succeed and find acceptance in academia. This chapter illuminates the unwritten rules that often decide the fate of women faculty of color; as well as how women of color are navigating the intersection of race and gender in academia. Feminist theoretical approaches and narrative inquiry have been employed to draw out themes from the stories of eleven women of color who currently or previously held academic positions.

African-American and Latino students are failing to make the grade in higher education. The numbers of black and Hispanic college graduates lag significantly behind white and Asian-American students, and the numbers are even lower at the master's and doctorate level (Ryu, 2010). And while Latino/as are the largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, they remain the least well educated at all levels of degree attainment. As educators, we are left challenged as to how to break the cycle. In many instances, colleges and universities succeed at the recruitment of students of color, yet retention and attrition are more daunting tasks. We include as part of this reflection piece – and a way to inform this chapter – reference to research (Peña, Hernandez, Viernes-Turner & Dirks, 2007) we conducted with several colleagues that studied African-Americans and Latinos/as in higher education, as well as our personal observations as mentors in minority mentoring programs. We also offer our insights as two academics who were once thought of as high-risk students but are now enjoying careers in the field of sociology. We have discovered that minority students value seeing their own as not only professors but in the first author's case, an associate dean.

Purpose – Ecological cohousing communities, or ecovillages, are emerging as contemporary housing models that attempt to recreate a sense of community and encourage an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. This chapter analyzes a rural ecovillage (Ecovillage at Ithaca – EVI) to find out how the community conceptualizes and practices sustainability. The chapter also examines whether and how the community incorporates issues of equity and social justice into its activities.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter uses a multi-method approach. It is a case study; however, participant observation was conducted at the site. In addition, interviews with residents were conducted and archival materials from the community's newsletters as well city government documents were also used.

Findings – As practiced at EVI, the green lifestyle emphasizes comfortable living that is both esthetically appealing and good for the environment. In making the decision to focus on building a community for the middle class, residents have limited their engagement with social justice issues and have struggled with incorporating minorities and the poor into their community.

Originality/value – This is one of the first papers to analyze the ecovillages from an environmental justice perspective. It shows where there are overlaps between the ecovillage and environmental justice movements. The chapter also fits into a growing body of scholarship that examines the concept of sustainability from a social justice perspective also.

This article examines the early post-World War II civil rights organizing of black women radicals affiliated with the organized left. It details the work of these women in such organizations as the Civil Rights Congress and Freedom newspaper as they fought to challenge the unjust conviction and sentencing of black defendants caught in the racial machinations of U.S. local and state criminal justice systems. These campaigns against what was provocatively called “legal lynching” formed a cornerstone of African American civil rights activism in the early postwar years. In centering the civil rights politics and organizing of these black women radicals, a more detailed picture emerges of the Communist Party-supported anti-legal lynching campaigns. Such a perspective moves beyond a view of civil rights legal activism as solely the work of lawyers, to examining the ways committed activists within the U.S. left, helped to build this legal activism and sustain an important left base in the U.S. during the Cold War.

In order for students of any age to compete in a globalized, ever-changing society, it is imperative that those in leadership roles reflect the needs of the communities they serve. Part of service in any capacity requires critical self-reflection and consistent assessment of “who is missing from the table,” in addition to conversation toward progress, social justice, and the transformation of antiquated ideologies and ways of knowing. As members of minority and historically marginalized groups reflect the majority of global citizens (Colby, S. L., & Ortman, J. M. (2015). Projections of the size and composition of the U.S. population: 2014–2060. U.S. Department of Commerce: Economics and Statistics Administration. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf), a paradigm shift is needed so that students, leaders, and learners can exist in an environment that supports critical and cognitive approaches to the absorption of knowledge. Utilizing Black Feminist Thought, a framework was created to not only identify racially and ethnically diverse women in educational leadership, but to provide a “roadmap” or guide for the sustainability of these leaders in the academy as well as in P-12 school systems. A Black female scholar and a Black male working in secondary and higher education provide a guide to assist those working as educators, administrators in the spaces of secondary and higher education. This narrative provides information that will provide an avenue for the exposure, experiences, and equity for Black women in education to be at the forefront of educational reform.