How many more Black women do we have to lose before people wake up and truly start paying close attention? When I initially learned of the suicide of Dr. Antoinette Candia-Bailey, a former professor and vice president of student affairs at Lincoln University of Missouri, I was saddened but not shocked. Though her death has spotlighted and sparked some harsh realities and much-needed conversations surrounding the mistreatment of Black women in academia, as a Black woman myself and former employee who previously worked in higher education, I can resonate with her experiences and much of what she was likely going through during her time as an employee, and especially, as a Black woman. When I was an academic advisor working in higher education, I experienced incredible amounts of racism, sexism, harassment, and workplace bullying. My time as an employee lasted about three years and by the time I resigned, I felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from my broken spirit. Before my start
Writer. Storyteller. Unconventional Believer.