Black Women in Leadership Positions in Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Shifting Toward Intentional Intergenerational Leadership and Mentorship Model Centered on Black Women’s Collective Identity

ABSTRACT

Black women overcome various social and structural obstacles while advancing to leadership positions. The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experiences of Black women leaders as they rose to the leadership position. We used the grounded theory method to analyze the lived experiences of n = 12 Black women leaders working in nonprofit organizations, from a broader sampled study from 2017–2018, using semi-structured interviews, in rural East Texas. Based on our analyses, Black women's leadership trajectory centered around intergenerational leadership development, leadership values, and other’s perception of Black woman in leadership. The themes generated show that Black women have remarkable resilience in a service-driven leadership ideology grounded in faith, family, community support, and the collective identity of being a Black woman. Generating intentional leadership pathways for strong and compassionate next-generation of Black women leaders and mentors is essential for development and sustainability of nonprofit human service organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Black women leadership
• collective identity in leadership
• grounded theory analysis
• human service organization
• intergenerational leadership
• nonprofit

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the following MSW students for assisting with this manuscript: Clarrissa Goree, Deohjia Henderson, Jaison Pazhoor, Ebonie Simmons, and Kimberly Wilson.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).