How might we help faculty of color at historically White institutions engage with the historical lineage of educators of color?

While working in higher education, I have heard a series of personal anecdotes from faculty of color interacting with their white students and colleagues. Many of these stories underscore the disheartening reality of how academic institutions reproducing racism—from isolation and marginalization to hypervisibility and invisibility. It was clear to me that historically and predominately white institutions (HWIs and PWIs respectively) are often unwelcoming and hostile to faculty of color, so I wanted to design a resource to support those faculty.

At the 2018 Professional and Organizational Development Network conference, I shared some initial research with professors and faculty developers. I collected responses from tailored prompts to aid in my design prototype. Inspired by the scholarship of professor and curator Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, I aimed to create an aesthetic encounter for faculty of color which placed their work and experience in a longer, inspiring lineage of faculty of color.