Abstract
Career mobility for Black individuals may appear individualistic, ignoring the collectivistic endeavor involved to achieve success. This qualitative study explored participants’ mentorship relationships, analogous to the underground railroad system, as it relates to navigating their careers. Participants, who are Black professionals in various career fields, detailed how the support provided by their mentors allowed them to understand the nuances of career mobility while gaining lifelong relationships, resources, and networks necessary for continued and sustainable success. The theoretical frameworks for this study used Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) and Social Capital Theory. Analyses of 15 individual semi-structured interviews were highlighted in 3 central themes: (1) mentorship plays a key role in career mobility; (2) forms of mentorship: social/emotional vs. instrumental support; and (3) conductors of the railroad: mentorship across racial lines. This work has implications for development of comprehensive mentoring programs and career support for Black professionals across disciplines.
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Williams, D. A. (2022). Black first-generation professionals: leaders that you never heard of before: an exploratory study of lived experiences (Doctoral dissertation, Montclair State University).
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Conclusion
Mentorship serves along a continuum of professional development for Black individuals; in essence, mentorship remains a continuous and important part of one’s life for Black professionals in this study. Along this continuum, mentees become mentors while maintaining the role of mentee in the eyes of their seniors. Participants shared in-depth views of experiences and snapshots of their relationship with mentors; their appreciation for mentors in their lives; and the ability for mentorship to help navigate challenges during their career growth. Notwithstanding the importance of simply having mentors to guide one’s career experiences and growth was the ability for participants to have both Black and White mentors. Participants attached and referenced their social/emotional experiences when speaking of Black mentors; however, when the discussion and interaction focused on the instrumental support, both Black and White mentors were mentioned. While this study did not explore the intricacies or origination of these relationships, future studies could explore the perceptions held by White individuals mentoring Black professionals and whether or not tenets of White Savior Complex (Nasir & Abdullah, 2021) were involved. It should be noted that participants in this study appeared to have a genuine relationship with all mentors, irrespective of race.
Mentorship not only offers the opportunity and ability to create a pipeline for Black individuals into white-collar professions, but it also helps to address the often hidden feelings and experiences that may hinder their career development and growth. As such, the tacit and sometimes explicit exchange of information and resources help create and build a Black professional’s social capital network. For Black professionals, having social capital is an essential part of the process of an “underground railroad”; such networks forge and create the ability to pass and share information not readily available in their communities of origin. Following an established path—or underground railroad as we have discussed throughout this study—is a critical element for success and has the propensity to positively impact their families and communities.
Due to privacy and ethical concerns, neither the data nor the source of the data can be made available.
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Williams, D.A., Gordon, R. & Stewart, P. Career Mobility For Black Professionals: Mentorship as an Underground Railroad. J Afr Am St 27, 234–250 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-023-09628-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-023-09628-3