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Abstract
Using data from thirty-five semi-structured interviews along with self-administered questionnaires, this dissertation explores Black women principals' and assistant principals' perspectives on what it means to be a Black woman in education. This study analyzes how their experiences shape their approach to work. Of particular interest is how Black women school principals and assistant principals assert their leadership and authority in the school. The women in the sample include thirteen principals and twenty-two assistant principals across nine public school districts in a mid-Atlantic region. These Black women principals and assistant principals work in suburban, urban and rural schools with majority Black, majority White and racially mixed student populations. One of the key themes of this dissertation is how Black women principals and assistant principals engage in a presentation of self as a strategy to negotiate race and gender discrimination at work.
