Career Reflections: Surviving in a System Not Designed for African Americans and Marginalized Others

Reflective career insights on spending 44 years in a higher education system not designed for African Americans and other historically marginalized groups are presented. Key drivers and metrics of success as well as the institutional barriers, including race fatigue and intersectionality, and personal challenges faced in the journey as an African American scholar are highlighted. Current and future generations of historically marginalized scholars are offered a seven “what matters” toolkit of strategies and resources they will have to embrace and master to succeed in a higher education system where the subtleties of institutional racism and a host of other “isms” and “phobias” are alive and well.