Where Have All the Black Women Gone?

special to NewBlackMan

A Divinity School Student Wonders Aloud About the Absence of Black Women's Voices at an Elite Divinity School

Where Have All The Black Women Gone?: Just A Reflection

by Sean Palmer

Let me begin with the caveats: I have had a wonderful time in the Duke Divinity School, and have enjoyed my interaction with professors, staff, and students in the main. I say this because what I’m about to say is going to make people more uncomfortable than they might already be. And, this will probably have people thinking for quite some time. Another caveat: I write not to impress anybody, and not on behalf of an organization. I write on behalf of me…noticing a challenging reality to the Duke Divinity experience.

As I was meandering through the new course listing bulletin, and as I was reflecting on the recent comments on Facebook about “white men” feeling “spurned” in classes like Ethics and Black Church Studies, I noticed an interesting development. What I noticed is that only one black woman will be teaching next semester, Dr. Joy Moore, who also does double duty as the Director of the Black Church Studies department…working with alumni, students, and administration. Now I know that we are in a period of lean times…but does this mean that reduction is being done at the expense of diversity? This has me asking…what happened to the other black female voices? And maybe as a black man I shouldn’t be pushing the question, but I feel a strong Womanist stance in my “ruah” that is ecclesial, not subversive, that wants to know where are all the black women professors going (or have gone)? Does anybody care…is anybody noticing? And how can we justify this when there are over 40 black women enrolled in classes throughout the Divinity school? This means that black women represent more than 50% of the black population in the Duke Divinity School…and no one is scrambling, rushing to ensure that “sister-scholars” are a part of the dynamic theological environment which Duke asserts!

Are the other black faculty aware of this? Are they helping administration make decisions that don’t roll back Duke’s longstanding Black faculty initiative? Are we, as students giving voice and support to administrators and faculty who need to know that we are thinking? And, do we recognize that beyond a physical diversity presence, black faculty, and black female faculty in particular, help to deconstruct paradigms that cause white women and men to feel “spurned” without taking into consideration the entire church. Black female faculty make it possible for both black men and women at Duke to attend to their work, rather than attending to teaching their classmates, which ultimately assumes a level of education around critical black theological perspectives. Black students are here to learn too! Black women faculty ensure that all students are taught from more than a white and/or male perspective, and that students can identify research, professional, and personal mentors commensurate with interests and cultural perspective.

Moreover, I am uncomfortable about the kind of silence that permeates black student culture at Duke Divinity, which quietly says, “put your head down and graduate.” But, my peers, too much is at stake. We are here because somebody paid a heavy cost for our admission. We are here because our children need us to be here. The doors must continue to be open for black faculty, administration, and students. We stand on the shoulders of too many, and too many need us to keep the doors open! While many of us are challenged by a notion of violent overthrow…we should also be challenged by biting silent acquiescence. If the black women faculty are first, who shall be next? At what cost? It is my prayer that all of the sister-scholars haven’t been strategically slowly herded out of here. I pray that our institution has (and continues) to be supportive to sister-scholars who choose to make Duke their academic headquarters. I pray that preachers and prophets will walk into their calling not just to pass tests, but to be a beacon of hope for those who cannot speak. Today, I speak hoping somebody will hear me…and thanking God for the future harvest! Amen!