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Chapter 6
Claws and All: Women of Color and the Pitfalls of Dominant Culture
Leadership...........................................................................................................122
Ursula C. Thomas, Georgia Perimeter College, USA
Karen W. Carter, Georgia Perimeter College, USA

Chapter 7
Undermining Leadership Effectiveness..............................................................144
Linda B. Akanbi, Kennesaw State University, USA

Chapter 8
The Black One: Microaggressions in a Criminal Justice Program.....................167
Teresa Francis Divine, Central Washington University, USA

Chapter 9
What’s Respect Got to Do With It? A Black Woman’s Experience With the
Role of Respect in Academia..............................................................................181
Amandia Speakes Lewis, Molloy College, USA

Chapter 10
Praxis of the Teaching Profession: A Dialectic of Institutional Oppression
and the Development of Pedagogy and Critical Consciousness.........................202
YiShan Lea, Central Washington University, USA
Carol L. Butterfield, Central Washington University, USA

Chapter 11
Molding Me in Their Image................................................................................218
Romney S. Norwood, Georgia Perimeter College, USA

Chapter 12
Analyzing University Exploitation of Diversity to Legitimize Hiring
Discrimination: A Black Woman Professor’s Narrative.....................................234
Constance P. Hargrave, Iowa State University, USA

Compilation of References............................................................................... 268

About the Contributors.................................................................................... 298

Index................................................................................................................... 302
Detailed Table of Contents

Foreword............................................................................................................. xiv

Preface................................................................................................................ xvii

Acknowledgment..............................................................................................xxiii

Chapter 1
Microaggressions: An Introduction........................................................................1
Natasha N. Johnson, Georgia State University, USA
Thaddeus L. Johnson, Georgia State University, USA

Microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or

environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate
hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward people who are not
classified within the “normative” standard. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often
unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with people
who differ from themselves. This review of microaggressions in its numerous forms
seeks to address the current literature regarding aversive behavior and its impacts;
this includes investigating the manifestation and influence of everyday “isms,” on
the quality of life of those on the receiving end of these acts. Ensuing suggestions
regarding institutional-level education, training, and research—particularly in the
higher educational realm—in the work towards reducing microaggression-inducing
behaviors are discussed.

Chapter 2
Architects of Change in the Ivory Tower: Recasting the Role of Black
Women Engaged in Higher Education Professional Counterspaces.....................23
Nicole M. West, Missouri State University, USA
Tamara Bertrand Jones, Florida State University, USA


Although it is critical to foreground discussions about the historical vestiges of racist

and sexist ideologies that are embedded in the experiences of contemporary Black
women in the academy, it is equally important to highlight the role these women are
playing in challenging the existence of these structures. There are a growing number
of Black women student affairs administrators and faculty engaging in professional
counterspaces as a strategy to re-architect the reality of their lives in the academy.
Two such programs in the U.S., the African American Women’s Summit (AAWS)
and the Sisters of the Academy Research BootCamp (RBC), were created by, for,
and about Black women employed in higher education to redress the problematic
environments these women encounter in academia. In this chapter, the authors explore
how tenets of Black feminist thought (BFT) and collective movement activism are
integral to the AAWS and RBC and clarify the role Black women student affairs
administrators and faculty engaged in these professional counterspaces are playing
as architects of change in the ivory tower.

Chapter 3
From PWI to HBCU: When the Oppressed Takes on the Characteristics of
the Oppressor........................................................................................................53
Karen H. Brown, Independent Researcher, USA

Using critical race theory and Freire’s theoretical framework of oppression as a

guide, this chapter discusses institutionalized oppression through the lens of the
chapter’s author. She provides a collection of lived experiences in the form of short
narratives. These narratives begin with the author’s experiences as a Black student at
predominantly White institutions (PWIs). The author describes many firsts—the first
time she was referred to by a White male classmate as a beneficiary of Affirmative
Action as the reason for admission into college and not by her merit, experienced low
expectations of her academic ability, was called the N-word, and her first encounter
with racial profiling. She then details personal accounts of navigating academia as a
Black female faculty member in predominantly White institutions (PWIs), Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), as well as other organizations. Freire’s
theoretical framework on oppression guides her reflection and discussion of these
Black-on-Black encounters. She ends the chapter with a discussion of actions taken.

Chapter 4
Owning Black Hair: The Pursuit of Identity and Authenticity in Higher
Education..............................................................................................................73
Saran Donahoo, Southern Illinois University, USA

Concentrating on Black women, this chapter examines microaggressions directed at

members of this population through and because of their hair. Recognizing higher
education as White space, this chapter considers the treatment, instructions, and
even backlash that Black women receive as they assert their individual and cultural
 

identities through their hairstyles. This chapter draws upon data collected from 30
Black women affiliated with higher education as students and/or professionals to
illustrate how hair microaggressions affect their experiences on campus. The responses
provided by these Black women illustrate how their hair attracts attention, has the
potential to challenge or conform to White appearance norms, and illuminates higher
education continuing to function as White space.

Chapter 5
Critical Examination of Tokenism and Demands of Organizational
Citizenship Behavior Among Faculty Women of Color.......................................96
Shelley Price-Williams, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA
Florence Maätita, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA

Women of color in academia are a double minority who face extreme challenges
in attaining tenure and promotion. Common challenges faculty of color experience
encompass characterization of inferiority, expectations of work products that are
often undefined or beyond that of peers, exposure to tokenism, and denial of access
to power or authority. Faculty of color are often excessively recruited or assigned
to institutional committees and projects because of their minority membership, and
are also frequently sought out by students and peers of color for mentoring. These
forms of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) often go unnoticed and can
be undervalued in promotional proceedings. This chapter critically examines how
women of color in academia experience tokenism and how this manifests through
unrealistic demands and undervalue of organizational citizenship behavior.

Chapter 6
Claws and All: Women of Color and the Pitfalls of Dominant Culture
Leadership...........................................................................................................122
Ursula C. Thomas, Georgia Perimeter College, USA
Karen W. Carter, Georgia Perimeter College, USA

Understanding why women are underrepresented in various levels of higher education

leadership fields remains an important area of research. In the United States and in
many industrialized nations around the world, higher education professions remain
male dominated. Explanations for why women of color are not successful or are
experiencing difficulty in higher education leadership professions are many and
diverse. This chapter seeks to examine the discourse of Black female leaders in a
predominantly White institution. The chapter will focus on types of management
and communication styles that are disruptive to women of color in leadership as
they lead without readily identified support in upper division administration.


Chapter 7
Undermining Leadership Effectiveness..............................................................144
Linda B. Akanbi, Kennesaw State University, USA

This chapter highlights the tactics used by faculty, students, and administrators to
undermine the leadership of a minority female hired from a national search to chair
an academic department of all-White faculty. The tactics ranged from lack of support
from her immediate supervisor to collusion to re-assign this minority female to a
lesser position. She also received biased evaluations from faculty and students. This
faculty member was able to persevere through self-confidence, through refusing to be
intimidated, and through her ability to turn challenges into opportunities to showcase
her strength and determination to prevail. At one point, she filed a discrimination
complaint. As part of her legacy, she established an annual scholarship in her name
for African American education majors matriculating at the institution.

Chapter 8
The Black One: Microaggressions in a Criminal Justice Program.....................167
Teresa Francis Divine, Central Washington University, USA

Some faculty are like father figures to the students. The other younger White males
are scholarly and tough but brilliant. Then, there is you, the Black One. Black men
are six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men. Hispanic men are 2.3 times
as likely. In corrections alone, people of color are overrepresented. This chapter will
discuss the disparities in the criminal justice system and why students of color are
attracted to the field. Microaggressions in a criminal justice program show up as
machismo, as a joke, or even as witty, but never as racist. This chapter will tell the
narrative of being a Black woman in a predominately White male department and
why Black scholars belong in a criminal justice education.

Chapter 9
What’s Respect Got to Do With It? A Black Woman’s Experience With the
Role of Respect in Academia..............................................................................181
Amandia Speakes Lewis, Molloy College, USA

In this chapter, drawing from the research of the literature and personal experience,
the author intends to analyze the intersectionality of race and gender in relation to
respect, as well as explore institutional barriers with regards to respect from colleagues
and students in and out of the classroom. Keeping in line with the theme of this
edited book, forms of microaggressions will be explored as a way of understanding
the impact of discrimination and obstacles to feeling respected by colleagues and
students. Suggested strategies for an accommodating environment and an academic
fit for women of color will be presented.
 

Chapter 10
Praxis of the Teaching Profession: A Dialectic of Institutional Oppression
and the Development of Pedagogy and Critical Consciousness.........................202
YiShan Lea, Central Washington University, USA
Carol L. Butterfield, Central Washington University, USA

This chapter is an epic look at teachers’ paths through teacher education, public
school teaching, and teacher educators’ work in a regional university. One teacher
narrative intersects with the history of the teaching profession, on how this life is
shaped and is also shaped by the social construction of an American education.
Ideologies of patriarchy, economic development of human capital including the
corporate culture in the university are examined. The discussion reveals the everlasting
urgency for radicalization in the teaching profession through the illustration of a
teacher development of critical consciousness, resistance, and the struggle against
the institutionalized disciplined docility in the teaching profession. The examination
of life in schools and in the university reveals a dialectic between contradictions of
institutional oppression and a teacher’s development of pedagogy.

Chapter 11
Molding Me in Their Image................................................................................218
Romney S. Norwood, Georgia Perimeter College, USA

This chapter examines how the paternalistic nature of academia shaped the author’s
development as a graduate student and as a young professor. Overcoming the
oppression of a paternalistic culture is challenging for any woman, but even more
so for women of color who are assumed to need even more steering, shaping, and
molding. It is ironic that the discipline in which the author chose to pursue advanced
studies, sociology, is a discipline that has a core goal of examining and challenging
inequality. This, however, does not make it impervious to perpetuating inequality.
This chapter examines how long it took to take control of shaping the author’s own
image and to learn to navigate a culture that is still heavily influenced by patriarchal
standards.

Chapter 12
Analyzing University Exploitation of Diversity to Legitimize Hiring
Discrimination: A Black Woman Professor’s Narrative.....................................234
Constance P. Hargrave, Iowa State University, USA

This critical race counter-story chronicles a Black woman professor’s candidacy for
an associate dean position at a predominantly White institution. It is uncommon
to hear the voices of those who have been marginalized and disenfranchised in the
hiring process at a university. This counter-narrative disrupts the silencing of voices
at the margin and challenges the master narrative of the university hiring process


by giving voice to a Black woman professor’s experience. Using covert racism, the
researcher deconstructs the university’s actions to operationalize a deficit narrative
of her associate dean candidacy, while simultaneously espousing a commitment to
diversity by increasing funding to an outreach program for students of color. The
chapter concludes with a discussion of self-care. Black feminist thought provides
the framework to understand how acts of self-care influenced the self-definition of
the Black woman professor.

Compilation of References............................................................................... 268

About the Contributors.................................................................................... 298

Index................................................................................................................... 302
xiv

Foreword

For the past twenty years, I have taught some variation of a Women’s Studies or
Sociology course as an adjunct faculty at several different 2- and 4-year institutions
in the Southeastern United States. I begin each semester by asking my students to
consider their identity by reflecting on a series of questions: Who are you? Who
do you want to be? Who are you based on the expectations of others? How do
institutions and cultural norms define you? I don’t necessarily ask in effort to get
to know them better, but rather ask in effort to help them along in the process of
getting to know themselves better.
The American Heritage Dictionary, defines identity as “the collective aspect of
the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitely known or recognizable; a set
of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a
member of a group; the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting
entity; individuality.” Over the years I have come to accept that our identity is fluid
and shifts according to our current place, space and time in the world. I’ve learned
that identity norms are social constructions that free some, and restrict others. When
you peel back the layers of our identity and reveal characteristics and roles that
are deemed abnormal by mainstream society, it pushes people to the outer edge of
acceptability and causes “fight or flight” instincts to emerge. The rings of marginality
are many, and each layer of “difference” pushes one further outside of the in-group.
Black Feminist Thought scholar, Patricia Hill Collins (2000), writes:

To maintain their power, dominant groups create and maintain a popular system of
‘commonsense’ ideas that support their right to rule. In the United States, hegemonic
ideologies concerning race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation are often so pervasive
that it is difficult to conceptualize alternatives to them, let alone ways of resisting
the social practices that they justify. (p. 284)

Institutions of higher education were founded on normalized exceptionalisms that

allowed entry to a distinct class of white, Christian men of means, and proudly
excluded all Others, including their white female counterparts. It took generations
Foreword

of varying privileges to allow the marginalized Others to find their own entree to
the hallowed walls of academia. So, if white females weren’t given a proper hall
pass, what say men and women of color?
Today’s current political climate reflects bygone “isms” that linger to haunt us
in the wake of day. While some proclaim victory over past discriminations and feel
we’re “post-“ fill-in-the-blank, many of us from underrepresented groups continue
to feel the burden of our Otherness and continue to fight for full access, and only
on occasion enjoy celebrations of first-time accomplishments of our brothers and
sisters in the equity struggle.
A 2017 report from the National Center for Education Statistics boasts there
were 1.6 million faculty at degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United
States in 2015. Of those faculty, 52% were full time, while 48% were part time. Of all
full-time faculty, 42% were white males, 35% were white females, 6% were Asian/
Pacific Islander males, 4% were Asian/Pacific Islander females, 3% each were Black
females and Black males, and 2% each were Hispanic females and Hispanic males.
As long as the gap remains so noticeably expansive, we academicians Othered
by the mainstream will continue to navigate micro-aggressions passed on by the
descendants of forefathers for whom this country and its institutions were built. To
this, we will continue to need a blueprint to guide our steps, a scaffold for growth,
and a community to both hold the ladder steady on one end, and reach down to pull
us up on the other.
The scholarship of Dr. Ursula Thomas and her colleagues presented in this edited
book, Navigating Micro-Aggressions Toward Women in Higher Education, is an
exemplar collection of quantitative and qualitative work that will provide comfort,
support and empowerment to academic men and women of color. The chapters that
unfold will help individuals find that their personal and professional identity is not
one of limitation, but rather one of excellence and necessity – for who would we be
if it weren’t for one another?

Samantha Elliott Briggs

GEAR UP Alabama, USA

xv
 Foreword

Samantha Elliott Briggs has a doctoral degree in Instructional Leadership and a master’s degree in
Women’s Studies from The University of Alabama, as well as a bachelors degree in Early Childhood
Education from Clark Atlanta University. Dr. Briggs has over 20 years of experience in education as
an urban school teacher, adjunct professor, curriculum writer, consultant, and director of non-profit
education programs. In addition, Dr. Briggs is a consultant and curriculum specialist with her business,
P.E.A.C.E. Consulting (Providing Equal Access to Children in Education). In this capacity, Dr. Briggs
has served as an independent external evaluator on grant-funded initiatives. Dr. Briggs has authored
both trade and juried publications as well as original curriculum for several non-profit education
agencies. She has presented her research on local, state, national, and international platforms. Dr.
Briggs has served GEAR UP Alabama as Region 5 Coordinator and Program and Communications
Manager before becoming the Project Director in 2017.

REFERENCES

Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the

politics of empowerment. Psychology Press.
Identity. (n.d.). The American heritage dictionary. New York: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2017).
The condition of education 2017 (NCES 2017-144). Retrieved from https://nces.
ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_csc.asp

xvi
 xvii

Preface

REFLECTION

As the academic year came to a close I found myself practicing intentional reflection.
It is my duty and responsibility to sit and list my challenges and list my milestones
in terms of leadership and providing better support for faculty and students to
improve program quality. But this particular year I chose to focus on my challenges
and how I handled those challenges in leadership at our institution. I looked at the
ways in which I provided support for faculty and the program through face-to-face
meeting times, additional digital resources, and digital platforms that focused on
student success. I also looked at gap practices and I defined it as practices that are
supplemental and support the ultimate goal of student success braided within the
fabric of the mission of the college and the population that it serves. In reviewing
all these components, I feel comfortable that I have helped develop critical thinking
skills for not only myself but the faculty and for the students to improve overall
lifelong learning. I also have to be honest and directly look into the eyes of the
challenges that administration experienced over the last few years. We are in a
constant state of growth as well as disequilibrium and there were moments and times
I was concerned about the sustainability of the current model and where I fit in that
model. I am more so concerned about the condition in which we are littered with
multiple communication models and how it is affecting our ability to strategically
follow the mission of our college and student success. And in the words of the artist
Erykah Badu, there are moments when I feel like an “analog girl in a digital world.”

NEED

We are all very aware that higher education in our country is undergoing a very
critical and significant change. Whether it is for profit, not for profit or state-sponsored
education, those of us in higher education continue to struggle and grapple with
the beast of public opinion and how we have always done things. We also struggle
 Preface

with a very slow innovation cycle. State by state we continue to try to assert our
stance on our identity our core belief in serving adult learners while implementing
a vast number of assessments and trying to tame the beast of the rising cost of
higher education. We do all of this in order to feed the belly of student success in
measurable outcomes that will garner the support of the public. At the same time,
each institution contends with its own culture and its own approach while embracing
a growth mindset and responding to reform that is being called for within our
institutions and outside of our institutions.

CHALLENGES

The work of women, especially women of color, in higher education is very complex
and it involves the vision of not only upper level leadership but mid-level leadership
as well to include buy in and inclusion. We know that proper and transparent
communication is absolutely critical and it is also a great responsibility that must
be managed by all in the higher education system on a macro and a micro level.
The commitment and the energy that is required for managing safe environments
in which we can all speak and have a seat at the table is tireless work and often
immeasurable. For the most part these issues can be arranged in the following
clusters or categorical entities:

• One, establishing practices of good stewardship or managerial practices that

reflect a growth mindset within our community to include faculty, students,
and administrators.
• Two, to establish policies of inclusiveness safety and security that reflect the
organizational policies of the college or university as well as the specific
departments and their alignment with student success in practices both
administrative and academic or instructional.
• Three, establishing proper structures of responsibility given the complex or
the multilevel structure of higher education in a college or university.
• Four, establishing policies and practices that will support open and transparent
communication and not alienate those that are traditionally marginalized in
the world of higher education, particularly women of color.

Regardless of what goes on around us we must continue to engage in professional

practices that encourages to take a risk and speak up to enhance our professional
and personal growth as women and as leaders. We must also remember that we
are mentors and how we navigate this very difficult terrain creates a practice, an
accepted practice and pathway for those who are to come behind us. We have got to

xviii
Preface

be transparent enough to share our own personal narratives and this includes engaging
in a courageous conversation about who we are and the way we communicate; as
well as how we manage strength in the face of cowardice and fragility. As women of
color we must also face our challenges with compassion and without judgment. This
is extremely difficult to do in a hostile environment and it is also very difficult to
do in an environment that does not honor our style of communication or our voices.

ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

The book is organized into 12 chapters. A brief description of each of the chapters
follows:

Chapter 1: Microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral,

or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that
communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward
people who are not classified within the ‘normative’ standard. Perpetrators of
microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications
when they interact with people who differ from themselves (Sue, Bucceri,
Lin, Nadal, & Torino, 2009). This review of microaggressions in its numerous
forms seeks to address the current literature regarding aversive behavior and
its impacts; this includes investigating the manifestation and influence of
everyday “isms”, on the quality of life of those on the receiving end of these
acts. Ensuing suggestions regarding institutional-level education, training, and
research – particularly in the higher educational realm – in the work towards
reducing microaggression-inducing behaviors are discussed.
Chapter 2: Although it is critical to foreground discussions about the historical
vestiges of racist and sexist ideologies that are embedded in the experiences
of contemporary Black women in the academy, it is equally important to
highlight the role these women are playing in challenging the existence of
these structures. There are a growing number of Black women student affairs
administrators and faculty engaging in professional counterspaces as a strategy
to re-architect the reality of their lives in the academy. Two such programs
in the U.S., the African American Women’s Summit and the Sisters of the
Academy Research BootCamp, were created by, for, and about Black women
employed in higher education to redress the problematic environments these
women encounter in academia. In this chapter we explore how tenets of BFT
and collective movement activism are integral to the AAWS and RBC and
clarify the role Black women student affairs administrators and faculty engaged

xix
 Preface

in these professional counterspaces are playing as architects of change in the

ivory tower.
Chapter 3: This case study will be undertaken to understand micro-aggressions
among higher education faculty from African American and Asian backgrounds.
Specifically, this study will focus on inter-personal micro-aggressions, which
may take the form of micro-assaults, micro-insults, and micro-invalidations.
The theoretical framework for this case study will rely on Critical Race Theory,
and the data will be analyzed using a Mixed-Methods Approach. While it is
important to identify systemic processes of micro-aggression, this case study
proposes to address both inter-personal perspectives as well as coping methods
used by minority faculty. Data will be collected from higher education faculty
from three urban, predominantly white- institutions. OR we could consider a
comparative study of a large, medium, and small sized institution.
Chapter 4: Concentrating on Black women, this chapter examines microaggressions
directed at members of this population through and because of their hair.
Recognizing higher education as White space, this chapter considers the
treatment, instructions, and even backlash that Black women receive as they
assert their individual and cultural identities through their hairstyles. This
chapter draws upon data collected from 30 Black women affiliated with higher
education as students and/or professionals to illustrate how hair microaggressions
affect their experiences on campus. The responses provided by these Black
women illustrate how their hair attracts attention, has the potential to challenge
or conform to White appearance norms, and illuminates higher education
continuing to function as White space.
Chapter 5: Women of color in academia are a double minority who face extreme
challenges in attaining tenure and promotion. Common challenges faculty of
color experience encompass characterization of inferiority, expectations of work
products that are often undefined or higher beyond that of peers, exposure to
tokenism, and denial of access to power or authority. Faculty of color are often
excessively recruited or assigned to institutional committees and projects because
of their minority membership, and are also frequently sought out by students
and peers of color for mentoring. These forms of organizational citizenship
behavior (OCB) often go unnoticed and can be undervalued in promotional
proceedings. This chapter critically examines how women of color in academia
experience tokenism and how this manifests through unrealistic demands and
undervalue of organizational citizenship behavior.
Chapter 6: Understanding why women are underrepresented in various levels of
higher education leadership fields remains an important area of research. In
the United States and in many industrialized nations around the world, higher
education professions remain male dominated. Explanations for why women

xx
Preface

of color are not successful or are experiencing difficulty in higher education

leadership professions are many and diverse. This chapter seeks to examine
the discourse of black female leaders in a predominantly white institution. The
chapter will focus on types of management and communication styles that
are disruptive to women of color in leadership as they lead without readily
identified support in upper division administration.
Chapter 7: This chapter highlights the tactics used by faculty, students and
administrators to undermine the leadership of a minority female hired from
a national search to chair an academic department of all-White faculty. The
tactics ranged from lack of support from her immediate supervisor from
collusion to re-assign this minority female to a lesser position. She also received
biased evaluations from faculty and students. This faculty member was able
to persevere through self-confidence, through refusing to be intimidated,
and through her ability to turn challenges into opportunities to showcase her
strength and determination to prevail. At one point, she filed a discrimination
complaint. As part of her legacy, she established an annual scholarship in her
name for African American education majors matriculating at the institution.
Chapter 8: Some faculty are like father figures to the students. While the other
younger white males are scholarly and tough but brilliant. Then, there is you, the
Black One. Black men are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men.
Hispanic men are 2.3 times as likely. In corrections alone people of color are
overrepresented. This chapter will discuss the disparities in the criminal justice
system and why students of color are attracted to the field. Microaggressions
in criminal justice program show up as machismo, as a joke, or even as witty
but, never as racist. This chapter will tell the narrative of being a Black woman
in predominately White male department and why Black scholars belong in a
criminal justice education.
Chapter 9: In this chapter, drawing from the research of the literature and personal
experience, the author intends to analyze the intersectionality of race and
gender in relations to respect. As well as explore institutional barriers with
regards to respect from colleagues and students in and out of the classroom.
Keeping in line with the theme of this edited book, forms of microaggressions
will be explored as a way of understanding the impact of discrimination and
obstacles to feeling respected by colleagues and students. Suggested strategies
for an accommodating environment and an academic fit for women of color
will be presented.
Chapter 10: This chapter is an epic look on teachers’ paths through teacher education,
public school teaching and teacher educators’ work in a regional university. One
teacher narrative intersects with the history of the teaching profession, on how
this life is shaped and is also shaped by the social construction of an American

xxi
 Preface

education. Ideologies of patriarchy, economic development of human capital

including the corporate culture in the university are examined. The discussion
reveals the everlasting urgency for radicalization in the teaching profession
through the illustration of a teacher development of critical consciousness,
resistance and the struggle against the institutionalized disciplined docility in
the teaching profession. The examination of life in schools and in the university
reveals a dialectic between contradictions of institutional oppression and a
teacher’s development of pedagogy.
Chapter 11: This chapter examines how the paternalistic nature of academia shaped
the author’s development as a graduate student and as a young professor.
Overcoming the oppression of a paternalistic culture is challenging for any
woman, but even more so for women of color who are assumed to need even
more steering, shaping, and molding. It is ironic that the discipline in which
the author chose to pursue advanced studies, sociology, is a discipline that
has a core goal of examining and challenging inequality. This, however, does
not make it impervious to perpetuating inequality. This chapter examines how
long it took to take control of shaping the author’s own image and to learn
to navigate a culture that is still heavily influenced by patriarchal standards.
Chapter 12: This critical race counter-story chronicles a Black woman professor’s
candidacy for an associate dean position at a predominantly white institution.
It is uncommon to hear the voices of those who have been marginalized and
disenfranchised in the hiring process at a university. This counter-narrative
disrupts the silencing of voices at the margin and challenges the master
narrative of the university hiring process by giving voice to a Black woman
professor’s experience. Using Covert Racism, the researcher deconstructs the
university’s actions to operationalize a deficit narrative of her associate dean
candidacy, while simultaneously espousing a commitment to diversity by
increasing funding to an outreach program for students of color. The chapter
concludes with a discussion of self-care. Black Feminist Thought provides the
framework to understand how acts of self-care influenced the self-definition
of the Black woman professor.

REFERENCES

Sue, D. W., Bucceri, J., Lin, A. I., Nadal, K. L., & Torino, G. C. (2009, January
1). Racial microaggressions and the Asian American experience. Asian American
Journal of Psychology, 1(1), 88–101. doi:10.1037/1948-1985.S.1.88

xxii
 xxiii

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge my esteemed colleagues for their support in editing

this text. Our work experience and journeys through higher education has made
this work possible and worthy. I would like to personally acknowledge the memory
of Lucy Diggs Slowe, Dean of Women, Howard University, for being a trailblazer
and first example for women of color in higher education. I would like to also
acknowledge the Georgia Association of Women in Higher Education (GAWHE)
for their support. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family and especially
my late grandmother, Mrs. Lizzie M. Harris, for her love and support in making
me an authentic and unwavering advocate for women of color in higher education.
 1

Chapter 1
Microaggressions:
An Introduction

Natasha N. Johnson
Georgia State University, USA

Thaddeus L. Johnson
Georgia State University, USA

ABSTRACT
Microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or
environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate
hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward people who are not
classified within the “normative” standard. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often
unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with people
who differ from themselves. This review of microaggressions in its numerous forms
seeks to address the current literature regarding aversive behavior and its impacts;
this includes investigating the manifestation and influence of everyday “isms,” on
the quality of life of those on the receiving end of these acts. Ensuing suggestions
regarding institutional-level education, training, and research—particularly in the
higher educational realm—in the work towards reducing microaggression-inducing
behaviors are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

‘You got beat by a girl!’...is a direct insult to the female professor, sending the message
that women are inferior to men. Telling an African American professor: ‘You are
a credit to your race,’ is insulting because the message is that African Americans

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5942-9.ch001

Copyright © 2019, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The
brother's return, and other stories
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
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you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The brother's return, and other stories

Author: A. L. O. E.

Release date: November 13, 2023 [eBook #72110]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: T. Nelson and Sons, 1886

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE

BROTHER'S RETURN, AND OTHER STORIES ***
Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as
printed.

SARAH MAY'S KINDNESS REMEMBERED.

 THE

BROTHER'S RETURN
AND OTHER STORIES.

BY

A. L. O. E.,

AUTHOR OF "FAIRY FRISKET," "FAIRY KNOW-A-BIT,"

"THE GIANT-KILLER,"
ETC. ETC.

London:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW.

EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.

1886.

CONTENTS.
THE BROTHER'S RETURN

BLACK YARN AND BLUE

THE SHEPHERD'S DOG

WHAT BIRD WOULD YOU BE?

THE HERO AND THE HEROINE

BEWARE OF THE WOLF

THE BROTHER'S RETURN

AND OTHER STORIES.

The Brother's Return.

"I COULD have been sure that John's house stood here,"
murmured Ralph Daines to himself as he looked around. "I
know that it stood by the turn of a road, just as one came
in sight of the church, and that it had a clump of trees in
front, just like these before me. Ah! Well, well," he added,
"it's more than twenty years since I turned away from my
brother's door—turned away in anger—and twenty years
will bring changes. Perhaps I've mistaken the place, after
all. I stayed but a short time with John, so that I never
knew his home well. In twenty years, one may forget; yes,
one may forget a spot, but there are some things which
never can be forgotten, however long we may live."

And amongst those things which rested upon Ralph's mind

was his quarrel with his brother, Long John—a quarrel so
sharp, that, after the two had parted, they had never seen
nor written to each other again. For twenty years and more,
Ralph had dwelt in a distant land, and had never so much
as sent a letter to inquire after the welfare of the brother
whom he had left in England. But when Ralph at last
returned to his native isle, his heart began to yearn towards
the only near relation whom he had upon earth. His anger
had been softened by time; and Ralph thought that his
brother's home should be his home, and that, though they
had parted in anger, they might yet meet again in affection.

Ralph Daines, after leaving his luggage at the inn nearest to

the place where his brother had dwelt, set out on foot for
the house, being sure that he knew the road well enough to
enable him to find it without much trouble. But the traveller
was perplexed, when he came near the spot where he
thought that the house should be, to see only waste land
overgrown with thistles and charlock, with bits of a tumble-
down fence which could not keep out some sheep that were
grazing where once a garden had been.

"Perhaps I've taken the wrong road, after all; perhaps I

should have turned to the left after passing the mile-stone,"
mused Ralph. "I wish now that I had inquired the way at the
inn, but I thought that I could not miss it. However, it
matters little, for here comes a child tripping along the path
over yon meadow. She perhaps may be able to tell me the
way to the house of John Daines."
Ralph leaned over the rough paling which bordered the
meadow, and waited till the little girl whom he saw carrying
a bundle of fagots should come up to the place where he
stood. The child looked poor, but her dress was neat, and
her cheeks were as rosy as the flowers which she had stuck
in her bosom.

"I say, my little friend," began Ralph, as soon as the child

could hear him, "is there not a lonely house near this place,
with red tiles and a porch, and a poultry-yard behind it?"

"I dun no, sir," said the child.

"Was there not once such a house on the plot of waste land
behind me?"

"I dun no," repeated the child, who was scarcely four years
old.

"I do not seem likely to get much information out of this

little one," said Ralph to himself; "but she may know
people, though she does not know places.—Does a Mr.
Daines live near this spot?" he inquired.

The child looked doubtful for a minute, then muttered, "Dun

no;" and seemed inclined to pass on.

"Wait a bit, little one," said Ralph. "You may perhaps have
heard of Mr. Daines as 'Long John,' for he often went by
that name!"

A gleam of intelligence broke at once over the rosy young

face. "Eh! Yes; he be father!" she cried. "Nobody don't call
him mister."

"Your father!" exclaimed Ralph in surprise; for the speech

and dress of the little girl were those of a poor peasant child
—not such as might have been expected in one brought up
in the comfortable house of his brother. "Do you mean to
say that Long John Daines is your father?"

The child nodded her head.

"And where is he now?" cried Ralph.

The little girl raised her sunburnt arm and pointed towards
the church which appeared at a little distance.

"Can you take me to the place, my little friend? I will help

you over the stile, and carry your fagots for you, and you
shall have a bright new shilling when we arrive at your
home."

The eyes of the child brightened. She let the stranger lift
her over the stile, and kiss her, and gaze in her face—saying
that her eyes were just like her father's. She then tripped
merrily along by his side, and in reply to Ralph's questions,
told him that her name was Mary, and that sometimes she
was called Polly. She did not know whether she had any
other name, but she knew that she was Long John's little
child, for all the folk knew that.

"Where is your mother?" asked Ralph. His brother had not

been married when they had parted, twenty years back.

"Mother is with father," said Mary.

"And is that their home?" inquired Ralph, as he approached

a pretty farmhouse which stood a little way back from the
road.

"Oh no!" cried Mary, in surprise at the question. "Not a big

home like that."
Ralph's face became graver and sadder, for the farmhouse
was not so large as the dwelling in which he had last seen
his brother. It was clear that Long John could not have
prospered in life; and this made Ralph more deeply regret
having so long harboured anger against him.

"Why had I the folly—the worse than folly—to keep up a

quarrel with my own brother!" thought he. "Poor John has
gone down in the world; I shall find him, perhaps, in
distress. He has needed the help of a brother, and knew not
where a letter would find me.—Has your father to work very
hard?" he inquired.

"Oh no," replied the child again, with a look of surprise.

The mind of Ralph was relieved. "Then he is never very

hungry?" said he.

"Never hungry," answered Mary gravely.

"It is a comfort that John has not known actual want,"

thought Ralph. "If I find him—as I expect—a poor man, I,
with plenty of money in my pocket, shall be able to start
him again in business."

Ralph walked for some time in silence by his little

companion, for his thoughts were full of the days of old. He
remembered how he had romped and played with his
brother when they had been children together; and he
remembered, alas! How often their sports had ended in
quarrelling and fighting. Both were proud, passionate boys;
neither liked to give in; neither could bear to ask pardon of
the brother whom he had wronged. The last sad quarrel
between Ralph and his brother had followed on a thousand
lesser ones, which had embittered the lives of both.
"Ah, how often our poor mother urged us to love one
another!" thought Ralph, now a worn elderly man, as he
recalled the days of his youth. "How she spoke to us of the
meekness and gentleness which should be shown by every
Christian, and taught us that he that is slow to anger is
better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he
that taketh a city! What grief it would have given to our
mother could she have known that, after her death, her
sons would be more than twenty years without seeing or
hearing tidings of each other! But now I will make amends
for the past. Poor John shall find that for him and his family
I have an open purse and an open heart. I hope that the
quarrel which has kept us so long asunder may be the last
which shall ever arise between me and my only brother."

Ralph was so much engaged with thoughts such as these,

that he scarcely noticed that his little guide was now taking
him through the village churchyard, until she suddenly
stopped quite still, which made her companion stop also.
Mary pointed to a mound of turf, over which the long grass
was growing. There was a low head-stone by the mound,
with a short inscription upon it. Ralph started and trembled
when his glance fell on that stone. It bore two names: the
first that of MARY DAINES, who had died, aged twenty; the
next that of her husband, JOHN DAINES, who (as the date
showed) had died not a year before his brother's return.
Little Mary was too young to spell out the words on the
stone; but she had been taught to look on that grassy
mound as the home of her father and mother.

Great was the surprise of the child to see the burst of grief
to which her quiet, grave companion gave way. The little
one knew not how great had been her own loss; her childish
tears for her father had long since been dried; to her, there
was no deep sadness in the peaceful churchyard, or the
grassy mound on which daisies grew. Mary wondered why
the tall stranger should fall on his knees by the mound, and
bury his face in his hands, and sob as if he were a child.
Mary knew not what a bitter thing it is to repent too late of
unkindness shown to a brother; to wish—but to wish in vain
—to recall words which should never have been spoken,
deeds which should never have been done.

Ralph would at that moment have given all that he

possessed upon earth to have been able to say to himself,
"There was never anything but kindness and love between
me and him whom I shall see no more upon earth!"

At length, Ralph arose from the grave, with a heavy heart,

and eyes swollen with weeping. He took Mary up in his
arms, pressed her close to his heart, then covered her face
with kisses. He was thankful that there was yet one way left
by which he could show affection to his lost brother; he
would act the part of a father to John's little orphan girl.
Ralph promised by his brother's tomb that he would watch
over Mary, and care for her and love her, as if she were his
own child.

And well did Ralph keep that promise,—well did he supply a

parent's place to Mary. Not only did he feed and clothe her,
and give her a happy home, but he earnestly tried to bring
her up as a Christian child. He taught his little niece to give
and forgive, to bear and forbear, and never to lie down at
night to sleep before she had asked forgiveness of any one
whom she had offended during the day.

"Oh, my child!" Ralph would say with a sigh to Mary,

whenever she showed any sign of a proud or passionate
temper, "never let anger have time to grow, for its fruit is
sin and bitter sorrow. Pray for grace that you may be able
to keep the blessed command, 'Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put
away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to
another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.'"

Black Yarn and Blue.

SOFTLY outside Mary's cottage fell the rain, the gentle April
rain; and round and round went the wheel within the
cottage, where Mary sat at her spinning. Never did her
husband wear a pair of socks that was not of Mary's
spinning and knitting. The hum of the cottager's busy wheel
was a pleasant sound; and cheerful and bright looked
Mary's face as she busily spun her blue yarn.

But the face of her son Jemmy was neither cheerful nor
bright, as he sat, with his crutches beside him, in front of
the fire, with his back turned towards his mother. First
Jemmy yawned, then yawned again, and then he took to
sighing; and his sigh had so dreary a sound, that it drew
the attention of Mary.

"What are you thinking of, Jemmy, my lad?" asked the

mother, stopping the wheel for a minute.

"I am thinking of all my troubles," was the mournful reply,

uttered slowly, and in a tone most plaintive.

"Well, the accident to your leg was a great trouble; but the
poor leg is getting better,—the doctor says that you will
soon throw your crutches away," observed Mary cheerfully;
and round again went her wheel.

"I was not thinking of great troubles, but of little troubles,"

said Jemmy; "this has been an unlucky day. It rains when I
want to go out."

"Oh! The blessed rain, which will do the country such good!"
interrupted his mother.

"And I've lost my silver penny," continued Jemmy. "I cannot

find it, though I've hunted in every nook and cranny."

"Certainly that is no great trouble," laughed Mary. "Wait till

I've spun this yarn, and I'll help you to look for your silver
penny. And what is your next trouble, my boy?"

"That pretty plant which the gardener gave me is dying; it

is curling up all its leaves," sighed doleful Jemmy, glancing
towards a flowerpot which stood on the sill.

"I daresay that it only wants a little water," said Mary. "See
how the spring shower is making the fields and hedges
green! Your poor prisoner in the flowerpot has not had a
drop to drink since yesterday, when you brought it home.
Have you any more troubles, my boy?" The question was so
playfully asked, that Jemmy felt rather ashamed of his
sighing and grumbling.

"Only that Tom is unkind; he is always teasing me to come

out and fly the kite with him, when he knows that I have a
lame leg. He said, when he went out this morning, that my
coddling at home was all nonsense; that he'll make a
bonfire of my crutches some day, and that I never shall
miss them! It was very, very unkind."
"Tom is a little too fond of joking; but I really don't see
anything in that joke to set you sighing," said Mary,
laughing. "My dear boy, you are much too ready to set that
brain of yours spinning gloomy thoughts. Suppose that I
were to put black wool upon my wheel, what should I spin
but black yarn, and your father would have nought but
black stockings to wear. Why should one choose a dark
colour, when it costs nothing to have a cheerful one? So
with the yarn of thought. Take something pleasant to think
of, something bright to turn round and round in your mind.
Suppose now that, instead of your troubles, big or little, you
take to counting up all the kindnesses which you have
received since yesterday morning."

Jemmy had shifted his position, so that he was now sitting

looking at his mother; and a sight of her cheerful face was
in itself enough to brighten him up a little. Still, it was
rather in a grumbling manner that he replied, "I don't know
what kindnesses I have to count up. No one is ever kind to
me,—except, of course, you and my father."

"We count for something," cried Mary. "But think a little

longer, my lad—turn your wheel round a little faster." And
the spinner suited her action to her words.

"Well, Tom did mend my kite this morning; I suppose that

you would call that kind," observed Jemmy.

"Now were you not needlessly spinning black yarn instead

of blue, when you thought of Tom's rough joke instead of
his real act of kindness?" asked Mary.

"And perhaps it was kind in the gardener to give me that

plant; only it's dying now," said Jemmy.

"It was not dying when he gave it; I've seldom seen a
prettier flower. Have you no other kind deeds to
remember?" asked his mother.

It was a new thing to Jemmy to count up kindnesses

instead of troubles, and he rubbed his forehead, as if rather
perplexed.

"My grandfather gave me a shilling yesterday," he said at

last, "and that was a kindness."

"And you chose to think more of the penny lost than of the
shilling received! How fond some people are of choosing the
black yarn!" cried Mary.

"There's no one else that has done anything kind to me; I

can remember nothing more," said Jemmy, after a
moment's reflection.

"I can remember something for you, then. Who taught you
reading and spelling yesterday afternoon?"

"Oh, Sarah May," answered the boy. "But that is nothing

new; she has done that ever since the hurt in my leg
stopped my going to school."

"Yes, she has shown kindness to you every day for the last
ten weeks, and therefore you have forgotten to think of it
as kindness at all. O Jemmy, Jemmy. Here is a sad choosing
of the black yarn instead of the blue!"

"Teaching me costs Sarah nothing," began Jemmy; but he

stopped short, for he could not help feeling a little ashamed
of such ungrateful words.

"That is an odd thing to say!" cried Mary. "Does not

teaching cost Sarah trouble and time; and is it not for time
and trouble that every workman and workwoman is paid,
except those who, like Sarah, take to helping others from
kindness? I know that Sarah went in her old dress to church
last Sunday, because she had not had time to make up her
new one; I know that she has stopped at home to teach
you, when she might have been enjoying a pleasant walk
with her brother. I suppose that my lame kiddie thinks so
little of all this kindness because Sarah is good and patient,
and never grumbles at small troubles like somebody that I
know."

Mary went on with her spinning faster than before, leaving

Jemmy to turn over in his mind her little reproof. Perhaps
the yarn of his thoughts was dark enough at first; for
Jemmy was mortified to find what a silly, discontented,
ungrateful boy he had been. He sat silent for several
minutes, and then saying, "I had better water that plant,"
he rose from his seat, and went slowly up to the water-jug,
which stood in a corner of the room.

As soon as Jemmy had lifted the jug, he uttered an

exclamation of pleasure. "Oh, here is my silver penny!" he
cried. "It has been lying all the time under the jug!"

And in the jug all the time had been lying the water which
was all that was needed to make the delicate plant revive,
stretch out again its curling leaves, and lift up its drooping
blossoms. Jemmy felt pleasure in watering his flower; to do
so, he thought, was almost like giving drink to a thirsty
animal.

Jemmy was all the more pleased, because he had a little

plan in his mind, which he carried out on the following day.
When his mother had set him to count the kindnesses which
he had received, she had taught him also to feel grateful for
them.
But the little spinning-wheel of his brain did not rest there,
nor stop till Jemmy had found out some way of showing
that he was grateful. It was indeed but little that the lame
boy could do; but when he carried to Sarah May a nosegay
of all his best flowers, and saw her smile of pleasure as she
received it, a joyful sense of having done what was kind and
right filled the heart of the grateful boy. The yarn of
Jemmy's thoughts then seemed to have become as clear
and blue as the sky.

Dear reader, what thoughts is your little brain now

spinning? When you gratefully remember kindnesses from
earthly friends, blue and bright is the hue of your thoughts;
but when you are also thankful for all the countless
blessings bestowed by your Heavenly Friend, then the
thread is all turned into gold!

The Shepherd's Dog.

"WELL, uncle, and if I did kick the little beast, what of that?
He's only a dog, a mere shepherd's dog," said Steenie
Steers, in a tone of contempt, as he looked down on the
rough little creature that had crouched for protection beside
the chair of his master, Farmer Macalpine.

"And what is a dog—a shepherd's dog—but a useful

creature, a grateful creature, that might teach a lesson to
many of a nobler race?" said the farmer tartly.
Macalpine had a face almost as sharp and eyes almost as
keen as those of his four footed companion, and his shock
of tawny hair was almost as thick and rough as the coat of
his faithful Trusty. There was nothing smooth about Farmer
Macalpine, as his spoiled nephew found to his cost
whenever he and his uncle chanced to be together.

Steenie Steers thought himself a very fine fellow indeed; in

this, as in many other things, he had formed a very
different opinion from that of Farmer Macalpine. Though
Steenie was not yet quite twelve years of age, he already
put on all the airs of a grown-up fop. Macalpine had found
the boy lolling in the only easy-chair in the room of his
aunt, Miss Steers, with his silver-tipped cane in his hand;
and Steenie had hardly risen to welcome his uncle, though
he had not met him for more than a week.

"I've come to see your Aunt Elizabeth, Steenie; is she at

home?" asked Macalpine.

"Aunt Bess—why, no; she's out somewhere," answered the

nephew. "I dare say that she's trotted over to the doctor's,"
he added, in a tone of utter indifference.

"Is her head better? How did she sleep last night?" inquired
the farmer.

"How can I tell? I've just come in from a stroll in the

woods," replied Steenie.

"I suppose that you did not go on your stroll without your
breakfast; you must have seen your aunt then," said
Macalpine, in his rather snappish manner.

"I wasn't down to breakfast till old Aunt Bess had done
hers, and gone out," answered Steenie. "I was up late last
night at the Burnsides," added the boy, with a yawn.