This study examines the lives of African-American women practicing in non-traditional white
male-dominated professions through an analysis of their life histories. Non-directive
interviews were conducted with seventeen African-American women practicing in professions such
as law medicine corporate management and journalism. The six themes that emerged from the
data were: parental promotion of optimism parental and informant promotion of self-reliance
enjoyment of and emphasis developmentally on reading support for attending traditional black
colleges and universities positive accommodation of racism and a strong promotion of church
affiliation.
