My last post captured my feelings as I was ending my tenure process. I can proudly say that since then, I have earned tenure, signed sealed delivered in writing. I will be an Associate Professor starting September 2023, joining the 2.1% of other Black women unicorns at universities and colleges across the country.

And yet, the last month of my tenure process was quite tumultuous. I found out after my decision was announced that several “colleagues” tried to tank my case at the last minute. My public history work was questioned for being “less rigorous” (and thus less valuable) than “real academic history.” Emails and discussions were had behind closed doors where I was called “uncivil” and “disrespectful” for speaking truth to power about my existence as part of a hyper visible hyper minority at a PWI. And if all that were not enough, the confidentiality of my process was breached, leading to that uncomfortably familiar question: Did this happen because I was Black?

I know folks tried to steal my joy, my shine in a momentous and historic win. And yet, as Austin Channing Brown reminds me, I am still here. And I’m not going anywhere without making that decision for myself.