The Caged Bird Still Sings: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Sustaining Elements Of A Black Spirituality As Manifest In The Leadership Lives Of Black Faculty And Staff At Public Predominantly White Institutions

Black faculty and staff play a vital role in creating and sustaining a positive environment for Black students, and other students of color, at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Yet, these key university leaders experience instances of racial bias, disrespect, devaluing of talents, and alienation from their institutions. The sustaining elements of a Black spirituality provide a wellspring of resilient hope in these stressful and demoralizing instances by offering a depth of community, care, and cultivation of one’s call to vocation that resists the coopting of agency. The literature has indicated these elements of a Black spirituality are useful in recruitment, retention, and resilience of Black faculty and staff and other disenfranchised members of a PWI community. This study uses phenomenology as the tool of methodological inquiry into the shared lived narratives of participants. The findings present a counter-narrative that rejoices in hopeful resistance rather than arching toward rebellion. The study asks the reader to allow narratives of a Black spiritualty—in presence and absence—to manifest such that people and words comingle in the imagery of the caged bird that remains resolute so hope for community transformation and vocational call can be heard. So, the caged bird still sings.