Closer to My Dreams: Exploring Black Women’s Graduate School Aspirations and Community Uplift Through a Community Cultural Wealth and Black Feminist Approach

This qualitative study analyzed what shaped the aspirations of Black women graduate student alumnae to earn advanced degrees. Using an assets-based conceptual framework of Community Cultural Wealth and Black Feminist Thought, findings suggested that the aspirational capital of Black women alumnae who obtained advanced degrees was fueled by other familial, navigational, resistance, and social capital and that they also implemented notions of Black feminisms within their trajectories into graduate education. Additionally, by bridging Community Cultural Wealth and Black Feminist Thought, the data suggests a new form of capital, which we call community uplift capital, that is rooted in elevating one’s community, family, and culture. The findings have implications for the recruitment and retention of Black graduate students and for stakeholders associated with graduate education matriculation.