Feminist Teacher | Vol. 16 No. 1 | ELISHA J. NIXON-COBB: Humanizing the Dissertation Defense: One Woman of Color's Experience

Article

Volume 16 • Number 1

2006

Humanizing the Dissertation Defense: One Woman of Color's Experience

by Elisha J. Nixon-Cobb

After completing my master's degree,
I remember my mother's encouraging words.
She said, "Get your doctorate. Education
is guaranteed power. Having an education
affirms our humanity, and black people living
in a white world need that."

That's the way my mother raised me and the way some other community black mothers raised their daughters. Needing someone to live out her dream of finishing high school and attending college (which she never did), my mother nurtured in me the idea that having an education is powerful and would force white people to respect and appreciate what I had to offer in and out of the classroom.

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