This is the story of a little Black girl who knew she was a queen and, in her innocence, shared her knowledge too soon. The world dethroned her, burying her spirit, expecting to asphyxiate her. But the world didn’t know that she was a seed. Germinating underground in the bowels of the earth—almost suffocating—the seed miraculously survives, nourished by nutrients submerged in composting decay. Drinking from dew drops and snatching heat from sunlight, the seed sustains herself, rooting and grasping on to small grains of dirt offering their hands to her. With a fierce, fiery, and feisty determination, she births herself from her seedcoat womb, detangling from the weeds and the wily ways of the world attempting to sabotage her divine destiny. Pushing through the muck and the mire, bursting forth and rising up, she announces her above-ground presence: her arms, like branches, outstretched and her breasts, like buds, boldly baring themselves. Her willow, palm-tree spine, bending but never breaking, sways unassuaged in the glorious air of her reclaimed throne. Regal, resurrected, and refusing to be denied her rightful role as an African goddess, Blackwildgoddess blossoms and blooms, radiating rays of love, joy, and hope for other seeds on their journeys. Her journey begins with libations.
A Black Woman’s Journey from Cotton Picking to College Professor: Lessons about Race, Class, and Gender in America the journey and transformation of Mildred Sirls, a young Black girl in rural east Texas in the 1930s who picked cotton to help her family survive, to Dr. Mildred Pratt, Professor Emerita of Social Work, who, by lifting as she climbed, influenced hundreds of students and empowered a community. As a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and scholar-activist, Mildred lived her core beliefs: she felt that it was important to validate individual human dignity; she recognized the power of determination and discipline as keys to success; and she had a commitment to empowering and serving others for the greater good of society. Such values not only characterized the life that she led, they are exemplified by the legacy she left. A Black Woman’s Journey from Cotton Picking to College Professor reflects those core values. It celebrates ordinary lives and individuals; it demonstrates the value of hard work; and it illustrates the motto of the National Association of Colored Women, “lifting as we climb.”
A Black Woman’s Journey from Cotton Picking to College Professor wonderful and special journey. I encourage others to explore this amazing life story. I’m sure they will enjoy it as much as I did.” -Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor of English, Virginia Tech
“This enormously important volume documents the first generation of African American women professors at predominantly White academic institutions in the wake of the modern civil rights movement. It will make a splendid contribution to women’s history, gender studies, and to African American life and history. It will inspire African American women in the academy to chronicle their own lives and contributions to the intellectual and historical record.”―Darlene Clark Hine, Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History, Northwestern University
“All gain from reading this book about the life of Dr. Mildred Pratt. There are few fields of scholarly inquiry or general interests that are not at least touched upon in these pages. Here is, ultimately, an important commentary on race and rights, class and status, gender, and Jim and Jane Crow. The world was made better by Dr. Mildred Pratt having been a part of it. Others will be left better for having read this story of her life.”―Stephanie Shaw, Professor of History, Ohio State University
“Dr. Mildred Sirls Pratt’s story is one of the genesis, rise, and remarkable triumph of an extraordinary individual overcoming herculean odds. Her remarkable feats―despite successive setbacks―as she navigated a career as a tenure track professor without a blueprint is a story of legend. Her life is an amazing journey from sharecropping to the academy. Her memoir is an insightful window into what it means to be Black in America, individually and collectively.”―James Anderson, Dean, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This edited volume documents the unique experiences of women of color in higher education administration. From full professors, senior administrators, deans, presidents, and chancellors, women of color share their social justice journeys to leadership roles in the academy. With a focus on women of color presidents, a rich landscape is painted through their own voices of their experiences as they ascend and lead higher education institutions, navigating complex dynamics influenced by their race, culture, class, and gender status. The narratives of African American, Native American, Asian American, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican women leaders reflect the importance of their cultural heritage; the role of family values; the necessity of professional mentorship and support; the presence of personal resiliency; and the need to lift others while climbing and thriving. This book affirms the social justice imperative of diversifying the academy to include the scholarship, voices, perspectives, viewpoints, and leadership of women of color. Through this work, we clearly see that women of color can climb to the highest rung; can penetrate the abode ceiling, the bamboo ceiling, and the plantation roofs; can sit in the president’s chair; and can thrive as leaders in the academy.
A Promising Reality: Reflections on Race, Gender, and Culture in Cuba is a compilation of the reflections of a group of chief diversity officers, faculty, and educators from the United States about Cuba. As part of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education delegation to Cuba in July, 2015, A Promising Reality represents a collection of voices, experiences, and perspectives about issues of race, gender, cultural identity, and the African experience in Cuba. Key themes explored include Cuban culture, the Cuban Revolution, politics, economics, education, equity, and social change. Utilizing narrative inquiry, some of the reflections are comparative with the United States, and some reflections focus exclusively on Cuba. The book takes readers on a journey of thought-provoking stories that reflect the excitement, uncertainty, complexity, and promising possibilities on the cusp of changing diplomatic, political, economic, and social relationships between the United States and Cuba. A Promising Reality seeks to broaden the perspectives of its readers regarding US-Cuban relations. This book is ideal for courses on international relations, international studies, international affairs, comparative cultures, political science, education, politics, sociology, history, race, gender, and social justice. It is a must-read for anyone traveling to Cuba as part of study-abroad, professional development, or personal adventure.
“This book is an exciting and thought provoking set of reflections on Cuba, stimulated by a visit by US higher education chief diversity officers and faculty. Crisp analyses and deeply moving personal reflections make this a must-read and an important addition to personal and university libraries. A first of its kind on the current state of the island of Cuba, its complex relationship with the United States, and what we might expect in the coming years, as US-Cuban relations continue to shift.”―Benjamin D. Reese, Jr., Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Duke University/Duke University Health System
“This book summarizes the reflections of a group of university chief diversity officers and other educators on current issues in Cuba. Issues of race, gender, cultural identity, and the African experience in Cuba are explored and discussed from a number of interesting perspectives. Given the rapidly changing economic, political, and social relationships between the United States and Cuba, this book is highly recommended for college and university courses on international studies, international affairs, political science and sociology. Faculty and administrators seeking to develop educational programs with Cuba, or partnerships with Cuban universities or organizations, will find this book to be a valuable resource.”―Julie Furst-Bowe, Former Chancellor, Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville; Vice President of Instruction, Chippewa Valley Technical College
My very first book was based on my dissertation and my commitment to elevating Black girls and raising visibility about issues of Black women’s race loyalty, sexism, Black nationalism, and White women’s organizations inability to effectively advocate for issues of Black girls and Black women. Fun Fact: My daughter is on the cover, raising a Black power fist!
Critical Race, Feminism, and Education provides a transformative next step in the evolution of critical race and Black feminist scholarship. Focusing on praxis, the relationship between the construction of race, class, and gender categories and social justice outcomes is analyzed. An applied transdisciplinary model – integrating law, sociology, history, and social movement theory – demonstrates how marginalized groups are oppressed by ideologies of power and privilege in the legal system, the education system, and the media. Pratt-Clarke documents the effects of racism, patriarchy, classism, and nationalism on Black females and males in the single-sex school debate.
Menah Pratt-Clarke’s study represents one of the most thorough integrations of the law, feminism, sociology and African American Studies; her approach is a roadmap for implementing more equitable educational and public policy. Let’s hope those who institute such policies are savvy enough to pick up this book, read it, and go about the urgent business of reshaping America’s future.” – Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Distinguished Professor, Vanderbilt University, , USA, and author of Pimps Up, Ho’s Down
“We are experiencing a unique moment. For the first time in America’s history, African American women and girls live in the White House as the first family. It is clear, though, that their place is no watershed for the majority of the sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers who live the everyday lives and circumstances of African Americans in the nation. Pratt-Clarke reminds us and demands from us a careful scrutiny of the meaning of racial-gender justice for black girls and women. Justice and equal access, as she reveals, is a right that has yet to be provided to most black girls in America. In fact, the barriers to these full freedoms are defined by attitudes and practices from both within and external to African American communities. Her work takes us a long way in the struggle to better understand how culture, educational policy, law, and practice work to maintain varied and entangled oppressions. It takes us still further in thinking through how to holistically create a world of greater equity for black girls and women.” – Jennifer F. Hamer, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Editor of Black Women, Gender and Families
“It is now common knowledge that the educational system has failed black boys. Pratt-Clarke’s important volume demarginalizes the plight of black girls, who are severely threatened as well. The future, if not the very existence, of a vibrant African-American community in the twenty-first century, will depend on strong well-educated citizens, where neither black men NOR black women have been left behind. This book, based upon a social justice approach, is a must-read for policymakers who need to be supportive and do the right thing for both genders.” – Adrien K. Wing, Bessie Dutton Murray Professor of Law, University of Iowa, USA , Editor of The Law Unbound!: A Richard Delgado Reader; Critical Race Feminism: A Reader; and Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader
“Menah A.E. Pratt-Clarke says that one of her reasons for writing is her awareness that the stories of black girls’ lives are still waiting to be told. With her insightful new book, Critical Race, Feminism, and Education: A Social Justice Model, Pratt-Clarke shows herself to be ameticulous scholar, a tireless advocate, and a passionate storyteller who has opened a great big window on a world that has been invisible to those who do not personally inhabit it for far too long.” – Pearl Cleage, author of Mad at Miles: A Blackwoman’s Guide to Truth and What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day
Book Chapters
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. (2023).A Black Women’s Blog Posts: Writing for Empowerment, Manifestation, and Healing. In Reinekke Lengelle & Katrin Den Elzen (Eds.). Writing the Self: Theory, Research, and Practice in Writing for Healing, Routledge.
Pratt, Menah. (2023). The personal evolution of a critical BlackGirl feminist identity: A philosophical autoethographic journey. In Alec Grant (Ed.). Writing Philosophical Autoethnography, Routledge.
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. (2014). Racial (and Gender) Battle Fatigue: The Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice Approach. In K. Fasching-Varner and K. Albert (Eds.), But You Can’t Take Our Souls: Racial Battle Fatigue in Higher Education. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. (2013). Higher education leadership: The path of a Black critical race feminist. In C. Chaney and D. Davis (Eds.), Black women in Leadership: Their Historical and Contemporary Contributions. New York: Peter Lang.
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. (2013). Doing Sociology. In K. Korgen, J. White, & S. White (Eds.), Sociologists in Action: Sociology, Social Change and Social Justice. 2nd edition. Newbury Park, California: Pine Forge/Sage.
Pratt, Menah. 2023. A Black Womanist Theomethaxis: Theory, Method, and Praxis for Revolutionary-Revelation Writing, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research (2023) 12 (3): 24–47. https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2023.12.3.24
Pratt-Clarke, Menah, Andrea Baldwin, and Leticia Brown. (2020, October 27). Urban Teaching and Black Girls’ Pedagogies. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1349
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. Foreword in Standpoints: Black Feminist Knowledges. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Press (2020).
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. A Critical Race Feminist Autoethnography: A Narrative about the Academy, a Father, a Daughter, and a Search for Love. Journal of Colorism Studies. Vol. 3:1 (2018).
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. A Black Woman’s Search for the Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice model: Encounters with Critical Race Feminism, Black Feminism, and Africana Studies. Journal of Pan African Studies. Vol. 5:1, 83-102 (2012).
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. A Radical Reconstruction of Resistance Strategies: Black Girls and Black Women Reclaiming Our Power Using Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice©, Ma’at, and Rites of Passage. Journal of African American Studies: Special Edition on Black Women and Girls. First published online on May 17, 2012. DOI: 10.1007/s12111-012-9221-6.
Pratt-Clarke, Menah. Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice and Africana Sociology: Intersections and connections. Critical Sociology: Special Edition on Africana Sociology. First published online on June 11, 2012 as doi:10.1177/0896920512443140.