The Paradox of the Black Professional: Whitewashing Blackness through Professionalism

Abstract

Discrimination against Black workers in the United States workplace is an ongoing problem. This study explores one understudied type of discrimination—the paradoxes and contradictions that create untenable situations for Black professionals who work in largely white-dominant organizations. Through in-depth interviews with self-identified Black professionals, we developed a novel theoretical concept we term the paradox of the Black professional. The participants uniformly identified white assumptions underlying the meaning of professionalism and were forced to navigate the impossible expectations of needing to be white while inhabiting a Black body. The findings suggest that organizations expressing a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity need to rethink the meaning systems and expectations that drive the professional and organizational discourses around which work is organized.

Keywords

paradox professionalism black professionalism race

The Paradox of the Black Professional

Racial and ethnic minorities deal with obstacles in career development (Thomas & Alderfer, 1989), are faced with difficult stereotyping experiences (Forbes, 2009), and encounter racially charged discourse at work (Embrick & Henricks, 2015). Ongoing racial discrimination is an institutionally embedded problem (Brown, 2003) with particular ties to systemic discrimination stemming from professionalism discourse (Ogbu, 2004). Professionalism discourse has long been recognized as both raced and gendered (Marshall, 1939) in such a way as to inhibit African American/Black people from being hired (Dougherty et al., 2017) or advancing within their organizational hierarchies.

Because being White is a defining characteristic of professionalism (Ogbu, 2004), discourses of professionalism are particularly challenging for people who identify as African American/Black Professionals. Yet, there is little research designed to understand how Black Professionals experience and navigate discourses of professionalism. Ashcraft and Allen (2003) identified the whiteness underpinning most of the theorizing about organizational communication. Harris (2019) identified the ways in which White assumptions about organizational communication can be traced through scholarly debates, calling for a recognition of the historical and systemic ways in which whiteness is embedded in organizations. This study answers these calls by exploring the experiences of Black Professionals in the workplace.

We began this research by seeking to understand the experiences of Black Professionals. During the course of our two-year process of data collection and analysis, we discovered that African American/Blacks experience professionalism as a paradox. More precisely, people who identify as African American/Black feel pressure to be as close to “White” as possible to gain acceptance and success within organizations (Ogbu, 2004); however, because they are African American/Black, being White is unachievable. Building on Wood and Conrad’s (1983) conceptualization of the paradox of the professional woman, we define the paradox of the Black Professional as the pressure to appeal to the assumptions of whiteness in professionalism, while being in a Black body. Using Tracy’s (2012) work regarding how to present unexpected findings in qualitative research, we shape the rest of this manuscript to help the reader better understand our discovery of the paradox of the Black Professional.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how African American/Black people experience and manage the paradox of being Black Professionals. This study contributes to the scholarly literature by addressing a significant gap in theorizing about minoritized people, building the knowledge base on professionalism, and developing a new theory that intersects literature on organizational contradictions with literature on race and work. We begin this endeavor by reviewing relevant literature. We then present the findings from a qualitative study in which we interviewed 21 African American/Black Professionals who worked in middle management or higher in their workplaces. Two themes emerged during analysis: Experiencing Black Professionalism as a paradox and managing the paradox of the Black Professional. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Literature Review

To help frame our study findings we recognize the interplay between discourse and the materiality of professional bodies, discuss the tensions experienced by Black Professionals, and describe how paradoxes are one formation of organizational tensions that communicatively constitute the organization.

Professional Bodies/Professionalism Discourse

The term professional was coined to demark a worker whose education, skills, and bearing elevated their status to a form of aristocracy, which was traditionally White and male (Marshall, 1939). Contrarily, professionalism is a discourse that draws on the notion of professionals as idealized people (Adams, 2012). As such, workers attempt to borrow the privilege of professionals by emulating assumed behaviors, attitudes, and appearance. Yet, most who are asked to engage in professionalism see little material advantage because “acting” professional does not materially make a person a professional. It is this engagement between professional as a materially embodied person and professionalism as a discursive enactment that is of interest in this study.

The meaning of professionalism is ambiguous, and this has important implications for the production and reproduction of both power and privilege. For example, invoking the term “professional” allows working people to claim a desired status (Marshall, 1939), such as affirming their status in a preferred social class (Cheney & Ashcraft, 2007). In addition, discourses of professionalism infuse organizational life with ambiguous meanings that are carefully policed, enforcing unstated but important ideals about work and the working body. It is this ambiguous yet impactful meaning system that has inspired organizational communication scholars to identify professionalism as a form of discourse that privileges some, disenfranchises others, and provides an unwritten form of organizational control (Ashcraft, 2000).

Not only is professionalism ambiguous, it is also culturally imbedded (Hall, 2011). As a result, there are strict and often hidden cultural requirements to achieve the appearance of being professional, and these requirements hinder women and minoritized people from achieving these roles. In particular, professionalism discourses are whitewashed, meaning they are part of a larger process in which hegemonic ideals, values, and norms of whiteness are privileged, resulting in the subsequent oppression of minorities and perceived White superiority (Brown, 2003). As a result, as will be reviewed in the next section, Black/African Americans have a unique set of experiences with professionalism.

Blackness and the Tensions of Black Professionalism

Literature suggests that blackness is dehumanized in White spaces. As Fanon (2008) expressed, the closer a Black person moves towards whiteness, the more “human” they are perceived to be. Non-Black people begin to recognize Black people’s humanity as they become better in their performance of whiteness, both in general and in the workplace. Fanon (2008) also explains that when people who are Black demonstrate whiteness, they are only “almost White,” as their blackness is inescapable (p.11). Black persons who wear a White mask are still in Black skin. Further research has shown that although many Black workers believe they should conform to standards of whiteness, doing so makes them feel as if they are rejecting their blackness (Boulton, 2016; Davis, 2018), creating an unacceptable choice for Black workers as they attempt to navigate through their performance.

Discourses supporting White superiority influence the ways people think, talk, and organize (Clark & Clark, 1950). Organizational practices, such as professionalism, are deeply entrenched in whiteness, White privilege, and whitewashing (Marshall, 1939). As a result, Black Professionals experience a myriad of tensions and irrationalities in the workplace (Hopson & Orbe, 2007). Tensions can be understood as feeling states which cause stress, anxiety, discomfort, or tightness, oftentimes associated with decision making and organizational mobility (Putnam et al., 2016). African Americans/Black individuals describe tensions within dominant White structures as consistently a part of their reality (Davis, 2018; Orbe, 1994). Many of these tensions are a result of normative organizational practices (Seymour & Seymour, 1979) that include daily performances of professionalism. Critical scholars across fields have identified the need to use a cultural lens to explore discrimination embedded in these normative practices (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012).

Several social processes illustrate the tensions experienced by Black Professionals. Language and speech patterns associated with whiteness are privileged and result in a greater propensity for success (Craig et al., 2009). European beauty standards are regarded or touted as the epitome of beauty (Davis, 2018). In many settings, White voices are bolstered as minority voices are silenced or problematized (Coleman, 2006). In efforts to achieve success or simply survive, African American/Black Professionals are tasked with navigating these situations. In fear of being stereotyped or casting a negative view on their race as a whole, some Black Professionals attempt to code-switch (Boulton, 2016). Code-switching refers to changing one’s behaviors, typically vernacular, to accommodate or mitigate the expectations of others (Seymour & Seymour, 1979). Some African American/Black individuals change their physical characteristics such as hair and, in some cases, skin color, in efforts to meet expectations or gain acceptance. Other Black Professionals have even changed their names to avoid discrimination associated with traditionally black names (Kang et al., 2016). Some Black Professional refuse to “role flex”—to manipulate or change their identity expression in any way (Davis, 2018). Davis (2018) articulates various ways in which Black persons confront oppressive forces within workplace environments, including avoidance, indirect communication, and direct confrontation. Ultimately, no one specific strategy has been deemed as the best way to deal with these oppressive forces. The understanding that “it’s always White’s ball,” or that Black persons exist in a world where whiteness is privileged, is commonly shared within the literature (Orbe, 1994).

One way to think about the performance of Black Professionals is through Jackson’s (2002) cultural contracts paradigm. Jackson (2002) explains, “the cultural contracts paradigm suggests that at any given point in time human beings are coordinating relationships founded upon assimilation (ready-to-sign contract), adaptation (quasi-completed contract), or valuation of one another (cocreated contract)” (p. 48). Professionalism is a discourse that dictates the performance and behaviors of physical bodies, pushing professionals to accept a ready-to-sign contract. This ready-to-sign social contract is rooted in the foundations of embodied notions of the professional, which is heterosexual, White, and male. For African American/Black Professionals who do not match these categories, professionalism is physically and discursively unachievable. The requirement to assimilate to ambiguous notions of professionalism represent deeply held assumptions of who is recognized as professional and who is not. Thus, professionalism is a whitewashing discourse that prevents minoritized professionals from deviating from the ready-to-sign social contract, yet simultaneously prevents them from adhering to that social contract.

Although research makes it clear that African American/Black Professionals experience tensions in the workplace, there is a gap in theorizing about these tensions. Specifically, the structure and experiential formation of these tensions have not been explored. Organizational tensions can form around several organizational irrationalities (Ashcraft & Trethewey, 2004). Findings from the present study suggest that one primary formation of organizational tensions for Black Professionals is in the form of an organizational paradox, what we are calling the paradox of the Black Professional. To help the reader better understand these findings, we discuss organizational paradoxes.

Paradoxes

Organizational paradox is best defined as “contradictions that persist over time, impose and reflect back on each other, and develop into seemingly irrational or absurd situations because their continuity creates situations in which options appear mutually exclusive, making choices among them difficult” (Putnam et al., 2016, p. 72). Within this constitutive view of paradox, contradictions emerge, evolve, and are immersed in continuous struggles resulting from tensions within routine practices and experiences. For Putnam et al., paradoxes are a result of language, discourse, and social interactions, which give life to paradox and allow it to function. Putnam et al. (2016) present five key process-based dimensions which ground paradoxes in actions and interactions: (1) discourse, or the way in which language and meaning produce and reproduce tensions; (2) developmental actions, or the processes through which paradoxes are reproduced in the moment; (3) socio-historical conditions, defined as the recognition that tensions are rooted in particular historical periods or at the interfaces of past, present, and future (Putnam et al., 2016, p. 79); (4) the presence of multiples, or the recognition that multiple paradoxes and tensions can be at play in different interactive levels, complicating the response at any single point in time; and (5) praxis, or the ways in which people engage paradoxes with varying levels of understanding or awareness. Interestingly, given the importance of materiality in theorizing constitutive approaches to organizing (Cooren, 2018), Putnam et al. (2016) do not specifically theorize the relationship between materiality, discourse, and paradox. Yet, it will become clear in the analysis of this paper, it is the interplay between discourse and materiality that drove the experience of paradox by the study participants.

Wood and Conrad’s (1983) theorizing on the Paradox of the professional woman is particularly helpful in understanding the interplay between materiality and discourse in organizational paradoxes. These authors argue that discourses of professionalism become instantiated in a male body. As a result, although people who work must adhere to discourses of professionalism, they cannot simultaneously be physically embodied as women and adhere to discourses of professionalism. The paradox is that women workers must be women while adhering to discourses of professionalism, which are male. These professionalism discourses produce unachievable expectations for success within professional spaces. Wood and Conrad (1983) suggest that professional paradoxes likely also extend to other minoritized people, providing a theoretically important backdrop for this study.

Based on the literature on professionalism and on blackness in the workplace, we began this study with the following research questions:

RQ1: How, if at all, do Black/African Americans communicatively experience being Black Professionals?

RQ2: How do Black/African Americans communicatively manage “professionalism” at work?

Methods

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 self-identified African American/Black “professionals” who work in mid-level management or higher over a 2-year time span. The lead researcher engaged in purposeful sampling by selecting “Black Professionals” in various industries. Purposive sampling criteria included membership in predominately White organizations, holding management/supervisory roles, and self-identification as African American/Black Professionals. Participants identified their preferred gender at the onset of the study (6 males, 15 females). Each participant worked at their job for a minimum of six months prior to beginning the study. Ages ranged from 21 to 62. Participants worked and lived in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, or Arkansas.

Interviews

We conducted a total of 21 open-ended semi-structured interviews to achieve thematic saturation. Interviews ranged from 22 minutes to 50 minutes (average of 36 minutes). Interviews took place in participants’ cities, over the phone, and/or over Skype. Each interview was recorded, transcribed in its entirety, and reviewed to ensure accuracy. Participants were given pseudonyms and then asked to review the transcripts and to modify or elaborate on their responses when appropriate (Creswell, 2013). All member checking modifications made by the participants were included in the final transcript. Transcripts were compiled in a master document totaling 275 doubled-spaced pages.

Analysis

We used a multi-leveled thematic analysis process. Per Van Manen (1990), thematic analysis “refers to the process of recovering the theme or themes that are embodied and dramatized in the evolving meanings and imagery of the work” (p. 78). The multi-leveled process was deployed in a three-layered approach: (1) description, (2) interpretation, and (3) critique. Although these processes are described separately, each level functioned together throughout the analysis.

The goal of the description was to recognize and label themes as they appeared throughout the dataset. After each interview, the authors met to review the participant’s interview. During each meeting, emergent themes were discussed, and the interview protocol was adjusted to enhance the emerging imagery in the analysis.

In the interpretation phase of data analysis, we focused on connecting the emergent themes with the scholarly literature, applied practices, and communication. A selective or highlighting approach was used to uncover and isolate the thematic aspects of the participant’s experiences. Though four themes emerged from the dataset, only two of the themes are presented in this manuscript: (1) experiencing the paradox of the Black Professional, and (2) managing the paradox of the Black Professional.

During the critique phase of analysis, each theme was connected to the larger social construct of professionalism and organizational behavior. The particular focus was on the ways in which professionalism discourses result in the promotion, reinforcement, and acceptance of whitewashing within professional organizational spaces. Black Professionals’ paradoxical experiences with these discourses were also considered. This critique is interwoven into the two themes to showcase the paradox of the Black Professional and the destructive impact of the professionalism discourse.

The Paradox of the Black Professional

The primary themes for this study demonstrate the existence of the paradox of the Black Professional and highlight the effects of the paradox. Each subtheme can be understood as a strand in a complex web of tensions that make up the paradox. Within each theme, we see specific process outcomes of the constitutive paradox appearing, as explained in the work of Putnam et al. (2016). Process outcomes can be understood as, “the systems’ effects that stem from responding to and moving forward as tensions develop over time in streams of action,” (Putnam et al., 2016, p. 83). These process outcomes include: (1) vicious and/or virtuous cycles; (2) double binds and paralysis; (3) unintended consequences; (4) enabling and/or constraining actions; (5) opening up and/or closing off participation; and (6) transforming or reproducing existing practices, structures, and systems (Putnam et al., 2016). Although all of the process outcomes can be seen in the following themes, due to space constraints, we focus on the core processes outcomes of double bind in theme one and vicious cycles in theme two.

Experiencing the Paradox of the Black Professional

Participants in this study experienced Black Professionalism as a paradox with complex and competing double binds. According to Putnam et al. (2016), double binds are defined as “perpetual oscillation between non-existent alternatives or a feeling of being ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ in a given situation that leads actors to feel paralyzed or trapped with no way out” (p. 81). Double binds are a defining feature of organizational paradox, and provide clues to the presence of paradox (e.g., Wood & Conrad, 1983).

Throughout the interviews, we discovered discourses that prohibited action by Black Professionals through threats to withhold rewards or to deliver punishments. In this theme, we illustrate the interweaving of three double binds that enforce the paradox. The first subtheme speaks to the double bind of discursive meaning systems that craft professionalism as a white construct. The second subtheme speaks to the double bind of professionalism as the performance of whiteness. The third subtheme addresses the double bind of White professional embodiment. Black Professional experiences and management are intertwined, as the processes of management and experience are interwoven. Though participant management techniques appear throughout this theme, we focus on the experience of the paradox within this section.

Discourse double binds of the black professional

The first double bind was experienced by participants as blackness unwelcome in professional spaces. This double bind represents the oscillation between large abstract meaning systems that problematize the existence of blackness within professional environments. Participants articulated these discourses as “stereotypes,” “standards,” and “under-toned” systems. Raymond, a male social worker said,

Professionalism for me is fitting in, into a stereotype that was not created by the average African American person. If I had to specify the ethnicity that came up with professionalism—and I’m not going to say that they came up with it, but I feel like where it’s created from—and I feel like this is—even outside of professionalism, when we think of the standard for a lot of things—which is something I’ve thought a lot about—the standard isn’t typically set for minorities. The standard is of something Caucasian.

This participant used the words “stereotype” and “standard” to describe professionalism as deeply rooted in whiteness. The statement highlights the awareness of the exclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in the development of discursive expectations of professionalism. The professionalism discourses pressures Black Professionals to fit into a stereotype for White workers. The exclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in the development of the expectations of professionalism communicates to “Black Professionals,” that professionalism does not welcome their Black identity. The White lens does not allow for the inclusion of racially or ethnically diverse individuals.

The previous quote recognizes the double bind privileging whiteness in professionalism discourses. Participants also experienced this privilege at the more local and personal level. LeAnn, a medical specialist, described how blackness is treated in her professional environment.

I have encountered instances where there have been statements made, or per se jokes geared towards blackness. People laughing, or when they say certain things, maybe about a certain part of town, or maybe a certain action, or even maybe somebody hair style, or whatever. But it’s under-toned a black thing. And I, being in my 60s and being a person of the civil rights era, don’t think that’s funny.

LeAnn’s experience demonstrates that even through decades of advancement, professional environments continue to malign blackness. This participant noted that blackness is negatively treated as a joke or a topic of ridicule within professional spaces she has experienced, discursively constraining blackness to the undesirable category of not professional. Aaliyah, a senior marketing coordinator, reinforced this experience:

When I started working, I wanted to fit in, and I wanted to be taken seriously to the extent that I am a great and competent worker and I didn’t want them to, I didn’t really want them to see me as the Black co-worker. I wanted them to see me as their coworker, their equal, and I felt like, unfortunately I don’t know what it’s from, I don’t know if it’s from society’s standards or from umm others’ experiences with stuff like this that I’ve heard, but I was nervous that they would see me as, you know, not an equal because of it, you know?

Using the language “society’s standards,” Aaliyah identifies the double bind that fitting into a professional environment requires others not to see her blackness. The above quote illustrates how, within professional environments, blackness is experienced as synonymous with incapable and incompetent. In this case, if Aaliyah is seen as Black, she is inferior and unprofessional; however, she has no choice but to be Black while inhabiting a Black body. As a result, Aaliyah expects racism to mar her coworkers’ perceptions of her work. Similar to other Black Professionals, Aaliyah managed this double bind by trying to “fit in” with her coworkers, a management tactic we describe as conformity and discuss more fully in the next theme.

The excerpts above highlight Black Professionals’ experiences of blackness being unwelcomed within the workplace. The “stereotypes,” “standards,” and “under-toned” systemic denigration of blackness form the foundation for a “ready to sign” social contract (Jackson, 2002) of professionalism. The abstract meanings that undergird professionalism as a raced construct also produces the requirement for assimilation to standards that are simultaneously exclusive. The tension between acceptance and rejection is paradoxical in nature. In essence, organizations are stating: “We want Black Professionals who fit our ideas of what blackness should be, which is White.” This treatment of blackness in the workplace causes an internal conflict for Black workers, reminiscent of Collins’s (1986) notion of “outsiders within”. African American/Black people may work within an organization, but their blackness marks them as perennially unprofessional.

The performative double bind of the black professional

The second double bind was experienced as unachievable performance expectations for Black Professionals. Participants described the ways in which workplace performances were imbued with notions of White superiority/ Black inferiority. Black Professional participants indicated that they must consistently exceed expectations while under scrupulous monitoring by coworkers. This data highlights the communicative performance efforts of Black Professionals to demonstrate that their blackness is not a hindrance to their ability to be competent, intelligent, or sociable. For Black Professionals to gain acceptance, they must constrain workplace performances into standards of whiteness. Yet, Black identity cannot truly be hidden, even when masked in high performance. Hence, we see the presence of a double bind process outcome with the appearance of the “damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” tension. Whether Black Professionals perform at a higher level or have the necessary credentials, they face the scrutiny of being unprofessional as a result of the paradox of Black Professionalism.

Janae, an integrated Health Specialist, explained the ways in which Black Professional performances are monitored, resulting in them trying to nonverbally communicate their qualification for the position.

I think the expectation is actually higher than the normal employee would be cause now that you are a Black person doing it you have to do your job, as well as, now you’re trying to overly show that you’re capable of doing that job. So, I feel like the expectations of you are even a bit higher, cause now the microscope is on you.

Janae uses the word “microscope” to articulate the scrupulous monitoring she experiences as a Black Professional struggling to gain acceptance at her workplace. Janae’s college degree and work experience seem not to be enough to qualify her to execute her job. Here we can see the hidden expectations of White professionalism causing this participant to use excess energy to be seen as a professional who is Black.

The stakes are high in performances of professionalism. Success and failure impact other Black workers who aspire to professional labor. Riley described the pressure of performing within professional workspaces.

To me a Black Professional is someone who understands that their role is an open door for other Black people. I am the first and only African American that they’ve ever hired to do my job and they’re wanting to keep me on next year. If I didn’t perform my duties as I was supposed to, they would not be respective of credentials and understanding of representing—that you represent the entire culture, not yourself, which is absolutely the case in my job.

Riley, a digital sales coordinator, shared that there is an expectation for Black Professionals to represent their entire culture. Representing the entire culture implies that all Black Professionals are the same, ignoring the rich variability that distinguishes African American/Black people. Riley again shows us that credentials are not enough, but above average performance is required, both to avoid negative scrutiny and to provide opportunities for other African American/Black people.

Nor only do Black Professionals have to perform under intense scrutiny of their work, but they also must simultaneously perform under the intense scrutiny of the stereotypes of their race. Donald, a mortgage account specialist, provided a quote that touches on the ramifications of performances of professionalism.

I feel like sometimes they can be seen as less competent or they only got chosen because they’re Black. I feel like they have to prove themselves in a sense. I also feel like they view Black Professionals as more like them (White people) and less scary, less othered. You’re not all the way Black, you’re a Black Professional. As a black professional, I feel like I have to go that extra mile.

Donald explains that Black Professionals are viewed as less threating than other Black people. Black Professionals are “less scary” because they are perceived as more White and not “fully Black.” Donald has to work harder and be better than others in his workplace and he recognizes that it is not “fair.” Yet, Donald sees performances of professionalism as a partial shield against the stereotypes levied against Black men. Raymond highlighted the shielding as a process that occurs over time.

And so, I guess I feel like I have to work a little bit harder just to make sure that I’m still in those good graces, and I have my job, and that they keep looking out for me, and things like that. And I feel like I may push that line more than others because maybe I’ve built up some level of respect in my agency or some level of cushion, I would say, in my agency. But every person isn’t afforded that. And the person that I came into my job as in 2013 is not who I am now. I had to literally chop away a little bit at a time, a little bit at a time.

Raymond details the tedious process through which he chipped away at performative stereotypes and unrealistic professional expectations. Although he has earned some latitude at his workplace, Raymond recognizes that others are not afforded that “level of cushion.” Like other Black Professionals interviewed for this study, Raymond managed this double bind by working harder than coworkers.

Participants’ responses provide examples of the double binds that structured their struggle to be viewed as professionals in their workplaces. Notably, many participants indicated that their treatment at work was equal to everyone else; however, that equal treatment was gained through unequal labor that required them to work harder within a more restrictive environment. Thus, Black Professional performance acted as a management strategy of the paradox as well. This outcome is paradoxical in nature in that you cannot be equal while being treated unequally. This quasi-completed social contract (Jackson, 2002), suggests that performances can vary to some extent, but the labor involved is physically and emotionally exhausting. In essence, organizations are stating: We want Black Professionals to act like they are White. Given that “acting White” is an idealized behavior that can only be done in White bodies, our participants experienced the paradox of the Black Professional as an unrealistic performance expectation.

The embodied double bind of the black professional

The embodied double bind divides professionalism from the Black body. As a result, the paradox of the Black Professional was experienced as the embodied notion that professionalism could be achieved only by manipulating or removing physical identity characteristics of a Black Professionals’ body. Those features deemed unprofessional are explicitly and subtly communicated to Black Professionals, encouraging them to oscillate between accepting the consequences of being outside of the whitewashed mold of professionalism or to reap the rewards of conforming to the dominant ideology. Black Professionals, while inhabiting a Black body, can never fully assimilate or adapt to the White embodied ideals of professionalism. The Black Professionals in this study articulated having to strip themselves of cultural attributes to achieve and maintain expected levels of professionalism. Black hair and the White voice illustrate this phenomenon.

Black hair

Hair is an important feature of the Black identity. Black hairstyles have ties to critical cultural factors. Many of the hairstyles imbue a sense of connectivity to ancestors, religion, morals/values, and specific communities (Banks, 2000). Black people express feeling empowered from embracing and expressing themselves through cultural hairstyles (Joseph-Salisbury & Connelly, 2018; Mbilishaka, 2018). Penalizing Black Professionals for exhibiting cultural hairstyles simultaneously penalizes them for their cultural heritage. The consistent penalization or categorization of “natural hair” as unprofessional and the adherence to the problematic standard by Black Professionals, reinforces the paradox. Perhaps it is not surprising then that each of the participants brought up hair in the interviews. Tyler explained that “I cut my locs [also known as dreadlocks] so I could get my job and now after some years and building some rapport I’m slowly letting my Black side creep out.” Other participants had similar experiences. J’Meia a counselor explained that:

In a general sense, Black Professionals are supposed to fit into a certain mold. That can mean changing your hair, I have plenty of friends who have said I’m about to flat iron my hair or about to get a haircut for this interview or something. You are changing your blackness. You’re conforming to White society by making your hair straight, you know, cutting it off, you’re changing your voice. Being a Black Professional most the time means changing who you are.

Changing Black hair to fit the whiteness assumptions of professionalism is not just a surface level change. For J’Meia, making Black hair more White “changes your blackness.” It changes Black Professionals’ identities by “changing who you are.” Other participants concur that Black identity is intertwined with Black hair. Dajaé, a sales professional explained that

A huge part of look is our hair. For women, women are taught not to have natural hair the first time you go to a job interview or a meeting with someone that’s important. Wear straight hair, wear your hair back, and that’s removing. . . [pause] well trying to remove our blackness from the situation. The things that are very cultural relevant to us are considered not professional.

Dajaé illuminates that, being required to change Black hair styles to conform to whitewashed assumptions of professionalism threatens participants’ identities as Black/African American. The control over hair choice creates a double bind for the Black Professional. Black Professionals must hide key aspects of their Black identity to be considered professional. Black Professionals must adhere to European beauty standards by making themselves look physically White while never being able to achieve the physical display of whiteness. Black Professionals are to be themselves, while being required to be someone else. These tensions cause a daily strain on Black Professionals.

White voice

Movies like Sorry to bother you, discuss the infamous “White voice.” The White voice can be understood as the processes in which a Black person manipulates their voice to sound White. By manipulating their voice to sound White, Black Professionals believe they can achieve success, hide their blackness, gain acceptance, and/or blend into their surrounding environment. The White voice has been widely discussed for years within the Black community. It comes as no surprise that participants consistently discussed voice manipulation as part of their experience of being Black Professionals. One participant explained that at work “I try to talk White and talk about things that I think they will like.” As this participant notes, taking on a White voice is not just about tone and texture. It is also about changing what is discussed. Lindsay, an educator, brought some clarity to this vocal change:

We have to code switch. You’ll hear some people talk about my “White voice.” That’s a real thing in Black Professionalism because, you don’t want to come off to other people as ignorant. That’s a part of being professional, my White voice.

As Lindsay notes, using the White voice is a form of codeswitching designed to make these Black Professionals appear less “ignorant.” This word choice is important because what constitutes ignorance is culturally derived. This participant illustrates how highly skilled and knowledgeable Black workers take on not only the White voice, but the culture that is attached to that voice to be perceived as legitimate members of the organization.

I hate that I do this. When I do interview, I like say let me do my valley girl real quick [participant later called this a White voice] because, I don’t want them to think I am unintelligent or I don’t want them to think I am intimidating. I change it all up, when I go to the interview, I make sure I’m speaking in a high soothing tone, I’m trying to structure myself as a professional.

Kalon, an education specialist, makes the White privilege associated with professionalism explicit when she explains that she uses her White voice to avoid being perceived as unintelligent or intimidating. Black people in the United States are burdened with the stereotypes of being dangerous, lazy, and unintelligent (Dougherty et al., 2017) and, therefore, as uninspired employees. Black Professionals constantly combat this stigma by utilizing a White voice designed to make them seem less Black in a space that privileges whiteness.

Professionalism discourses privilege physical manifestations of whiteness within the workplace. In essence, organizations are stating: “We want Black people who aren’t Black.” Participants explained that they gain respect, are perceived to be more competent, increase career opportunities, and mask their blackness by changing their physical enactments to appear Whiter. Yet it is not possible to be White while in a Black body. There is no true way to wash or scrub the Black away from a Black Professional. They are in an embodied double bind that supports the paradox of the Black Professional.

This theme detailed different double binds supporting the paradox of the Black Professional. Black Professionals experience a lose-lose situation by adhering to professionalism standards. They either reject their blackness, or they potentially sacrifice their opportunity for success in the workplace. These tensions were summarized by one participant who stated, “damned if I do, damned if I don’t.” The next theme will address the ways in which Black Professionals manage the tensions of the paradox.

Managing the Paradox of the Black Professional

Research question two asked how Black/African Americans communicatively manage “professionalism” at work. Our findings suggest that participants engaged in the process outcome of a vicious cycle through a process we call cultural labor to manage the competing cultural demands experienced by Black Professionals. A vicious cycle is defined as iterative spirals or self-reinforcing sequences of events that grow out of the ways that actors process tensions and contradictions (Putnam et al., 2016). Cultural labor reflects the ongoing challenge of either conforming to or resisting expectations of whiteness in the meanings, performances, and embodiment of professionalism at work. Both conformity and resistance reify the enduring paradox associated with Black Professionalism, making both responses part of a vicious cycle reinforcing the paradox of the Black Professional.

Conformity

Conforming to White norms of professionalism is a form of cultural labor in which people assimilate to a different culture in an attempt to achieve success. These Black Professional participants trade on the hope for success at the risk of becoming disconnected from the Black community. Adhering to the standards of professionalism discussed in this manuscript is a luring option for Black Professionals. Black Professionals long for equality, acceptance, support, and opportunity. This form of assimilation is akin to Jackson’s (2002) ready-to-sign cultural contract in which people assimilate to preformed relational expectations. However, the paradox that comes with expectations of whiteness while in a Black body prohibits the complete assimilation to White norms of professionalism, leaving the ready-to-sign contract unfulfilled.

For this study, we define conformity as obeying the implicit or explicit standards of professionalism. Conformity can be a temporary shift which occurs only at work or a complete shift representing total immersion. Participants’ responses in this section represent what they define as being a successful Black Professional. Responses also indicate discourse they perpetuate, reinforce, and/or abide by. Jamie, a Black male participant, provided a vivid description of how he conforms to social assumptions of professionalism.

I think I have like two separate [pause] I’m not going to say personalities. I feel like I have a work self and a personal self. The best way I can explain it is that I saw a meme from a long time ago, and there was a guy maybe from uh that might have been from the Simpsons or the Cleveland show. I don’t know something like that, but anyway it was a Black guy and he was walking out the door. I want to say the meme said, “when you get off work”. And the inside he was, he was inside of suit, the suit was zipped down, about halfway zipped down. On the inside you could see this Black guy, and on the outside, you saw this White suit of a White person. He was like unzipping his White self and coming out as the Black person that he usually is. I could definitely like, I laughed at it because I felt like it was symbolic to how I feel.

Jamie highlights the interwoven complexity of the paradox of the Black Professional. Recall that the paradox is experienced as double binds in meaning systems, performances, and embodiment. Jamie’s experience illustrates the ways in which all three function together to make Black Professionals decide to hide their “true selves” at work. We interpret the sharing of the meme highlighting the requirement that Black Professionals as be White, as a representation of the larger discourse of professionalism. Jamie’s actions of zipping on his White suit represents the performance of professionalism, and the White suit itself represents the expectation that Black Professionals will embody whiteness. The feeling of being two different selves with little agency in the creation of the standards of Black Professionalism creates an internal struggle embodied by Black Professionals. Jamie’s description of conforming to whiteness communicates that blackness is unwanted in professional spaces.

Other participants also described managing the interwoven the double binds producing the paradox of the Black Professional. Colwayne, a systems administrator, stated:

But I feel like when I walk through those doors, what we call or what I call professionalism is really my trying to fit in and basically not stand out as being a Black person, but fit in with the rest of the people at my job. So, I will call it professional, but it’s just basically trying to color inside the lines and just be what they expect from that particular person, versus when I get off, I’m who I probably am on a day-to-day basis.

This description emphasizes conformity as a daily performance of professionalism. Not “standing out as Black” and “fitting in” demonstrates an attempt to adhere to the ready-to-sign social contract (Jackson, 2002) of professionalism. The cultural labor of conformity by Black Professionals is emotionally taxing. Furthermore, the coloring within the lines concept is a powerful, yet sad, sentiment. This sentiment gets at the very heart of the paradox. Black Professionals are expected to fit within a standardized, whitewashed identity that does not allow for diverse Black expressions. Thea, a public educator, shared a similar experience:

When I’m getting out of my car, I literally—I turn my music down going into the parking lot. I don’t turn the station to nothing country or nothing. But I turn it down going into the parking lot, get out my car, and once I walk through those doors, it’s like, whoop, zipping up on my professionalism suit. And that’s how I am.

Interestingly, similar to the meme described by Jamie above, Thea also uses the metaphor of “zipping on my professionalism suit” to describe the process of conforming to whitewashed notions of professionalism. Her statement is unique in that it addresses where the conformity strategy begins—the performance begins in the parking lot.

Resistance

Resistance to White norms of professionalism is a form of cultural labor in which people either partially or fully retain their own cultural identity in their workplace, defying professionalism norms of whiteness. These Black Professional participants risk their workplace success so they can retain their connections with the Black community. Resistance to paradoxical pressures provides a sense of pride, power, and agency. As a result, some participants attempted to negotiate their social contract (Jackson, 2002). However, many participants noted that resistance could limit opportunities for advancement and harm relationships within their organizations. Because of the risks, resistance is not an either/or phenomenon. The participants in this study practiced resistance to varying degrees and with varying intended impacts. Lisa, an account supervisor, expressed that she’s fully committed to resisting the paradox, explaining why resistance is necessary to the welfare of the entire Black community:

I feel like when I’m being more of myself, I feel more comfortable. I feel like people are more accepting, I’m trying to figure out how I want to word this. I guess with certain people I feel more comfortable with being my natural self. Other Black people conform because of the fear of not getting a job. So, I can adhere to their rules or someone else will. So, taking a stand means nothing. When they do conform, it shows the company they can do that. It shows that they can stiffen people’s cultures and suppress people’s expression. And it shows its reiterating that you do need to fit into this mold to be in the professional environment. Now you’re showing people that come after you that’s how you have to be.

The statement above demonstrates the discursive and performative resistance strategy deployed by Black Professionals. This Black Professional in particular explains why she choose to resist. Lisa felt the need to resist pressure to conform as a form of support for the larger Black community. The interwoven nature of the paradox is clear in this excerpt. We repeatedly heard participants use the word “mold” to express the fully formed and carefully maintained image of White professionalism. This mold drives both the performative and embodied double binds of Black Professionalism. Lisa argued that choosing resistance should eventually discourage the need for conformity as a strategy.

Other participants viewed their resistance to the paradox of the Black Professional, not as a systemic issue, but as a personal benefit. LeAnn stated that:

I feel as though my blackness is an asset for me. I feel as though I channeled not only what I’ve learned educationally, but what I’ve learned spiritually. I wear my crown proudly and I’m respected for that. I actually wear a red, black, and green bracelet every day.

For this Black professional, resisting the paradox is in her best interest. Displaying her blackness is an “asset” that channels her educational and spiritual learning. This participant physically displays her blackness through her “crown” [hair] and through a bracelet that bears the Pan African colors, a symbol of Black heritage. This participant details the respect she gains for embracing the Black culture in the workplace.

These excerpts illustrate resistance as a management technique varying widely among the participants. Participants identified community goals for resistance as well as individual level goals. Participants varied in terms of their physical commitment to resisting the paradox. Some participants fully engaged in resistance by committing to displaying their Black culture in the workplace. By defying discursive expectations, these participants took control of their identities, remained true to themselves, or evoked potential change. Yet, consistent with the vicious cycle process outcome, these participants risked their ability to succeed in the workplace. Others took a more subtle or temporal approach, such as by wearing a culturally meaningful bracelet. By using subtle resistance, Black Professionals could escape the negative paradoxical feelings associated with full conformity, yet did not produce change to the overall structure of the paradox. Regardless of whether participants engaged in conformity or resistance, managing the paradox of the Black Professional was a form of cultural labor that was mentally, emotionally, and even physically exhausting.

Discussion

The findings from this study address researchers’ calls to embark on research that highlights the experiences of minoritized groups, race, and ethnicity in the workplace. This research explored the ways in which Black/African American employees communicatively experience and manage the paradox of the Black Professional. Black/African American professional’s stories help us understand the tensions and contradictions associated with professionalism discourses. This study addressed RQ1, how Black/African Americans communicatively experience being Black Professionals, by demonstrating the ways in which Black/African Americans experience their professionalism as a paradox enacted through double binds involving large abstract discourses, workplace performances, and embodied expectations of whiteness. This study addressed RQ2, how do Black/African Americans communicatively manage “professionalism” at work, by revealing vicious cycle process outcomes that reproduced the paradox, regardless of whether Black/African American professionals conform to or resist whitewashed expectations of professionalism. The analysis demonstrates how professionalism discourses constrain, control, expands, and complicates the participants’ work lives, and provides us with a novel view of the White privilege embedded in discourses of professionalism. “Professionalism” is an integral part of organizational life and scholars will benefit from continued attention to the ways in which professionalism marginalizes minoritized people.

Theoretical Implications

This study makes a number of contributions. First, there is a paucity of frameworks within communication that directly engage race and ethnicity in the way we have within this manuscript. As one of our reviewers put it, our research “opens up avenues for theorizing racialized/minoritized experiences in ways that are perhaps not possible with existing frameworks.” Our study serves as an intervention to the process of conducting minority research through a solely majority lens.

Secondly, this study enhances our understanding of Putnam et al.’s (2016) theorizing on paradox as communicatively constitutive. Putnam et al. articulate a number of process outcomes that are both process and outcome of paradox. In this study, we discovered that double binds and vicious cycles provide the communicative building blocks upon which the Paradox of the Black Professional is created. Double binds from discourses, performances, and embodiment reinforce the paradox of the Black Professional by making it both necessary and yet impossible to be a professional while in a Black body. Further, the management tactics and strategies used by Black Professionals reinforce the paradox. Those who conform to expectations of Whiteness fail because to perform whiteness, they must be White, which they are not. Those who resist whiteness discourses of professionalism by emphasizing their Black identity fail to breach the paradox because by failing to perform whiteness they are not perceived as professionals, which is White. Either way, these responses produce vicious cycle process outcomes for Black Professionals that reproduce the paradox within which they operate.

Third, the findings from this study also contribute to Putnam et al.’s (2016) theorizing on paradox by suggesting that process outcomes are interwoven to create the patterns that comprise larger systems of oppression. Three double binds emerged in our analysis. If each double bind occurred separately, then the paradox could be easier to address. However, the double binds are interwoven and self-reinforcing, such that discourse double binds reinforce performance double binds, which reproduce embodiment double binds, etc. These double binds become even more treacherous for Black Professionals when considering the interweaving of other process outcomes, such as vicious cycles and unintended consequences, making it excruciatingly difficult for Black Professionals to escape the paradox.

Fourth, this study also contributed to research on organizational tensions and paradoxes by introducing a novel concept called the paradox of the Black Professional. The paradox of the Black Professional conceptually addresses the competing injunctions Black/African American professionals encounter due to the deeply rooted White, gendered, heterosexual, and patriarchal nature of the term professionalism. Furthermore, it provides an understanding of the power-laden connection between professionalism discourse, performance, and the body. In particular, the paradox of the Black Professional addresses two limitations in the paradox literature. First, in the paradox of the Black Professional, issues of power and privilege are emphasized. The paradox of the Black Professional highlights the ways in which discourses are not only powerful, but also produce power in materially destructive ways for members of marginalized groups. As such, the paradox of the Black Professional is likely an important process through which Black Professionals are trapped in the lower economic echelon of Western cultures.

The paradox of the Black Professional addresses the issue of how race talk serves as a means of surveillance affirming and normalizing whiteness. Although it has long been recognized that racialized language compresses Black/African Americans to the lower social echelons of U.S. culture (Morrison, 1992), the processes through which this occurs have been unclear. Our findings suggest two possibilities. First, race talk is most impactful when it is combined with powerful double binds, such as discourses, performance, and embodiment. In this study, it was not the discourse that created the paradox, although the discourse did create discomfort for our participants. It was not their performances or their bodies that created the paradox. It was the meeting place between discourse, performance, and body in which the paradox was produced and reproduced that created exhaustion, frustration, and the perpetual sense of being on the outside looking in. This research, then, supports Black feminist standpoint theory showing that people on the margins have a more accurate vision of reality than people in the center, but less access to create necessary change (e.g., Collins, 1986).

By combining Jackson’s theorizing on social contracts with the paradox of the Black Professional, we discovered that, in the process of negotiating their cultural contracts, Black Professionals are required to do cultural labor that ultimately reproduces the paradox. The Paradox of the Black Professional forces Black workers to constantly utilize cultural labor to renegotiate hidden cultural contracts in their workplace. In this way, this research provides a foundational theory for understanding the ramifications of using language rooted in hegemonic discourses to apply to diverse identities, specifically minoritized groups.

Practical Implications

It is important to consider Putnam et al.’s contention that organizational paradox has transformational possibilities. The findings within this article suggest a need for organizations to practice purposeful, meaning-centered, and co-constructed organizational interactions about professionalism. There are numerous divergent and convergent meanings of what professionalism is within “professional spaces.” We argue that this is due to the lack of meaning-centered engagement by organizations. Organizations and organizational members mindlessly draw from the discourse of professionalism to inform their views and performances of professionalism. The roots of professionalism place minority professionals in a paradox requiring both organizational and interpersonal change. By adopting a mindful, meaning-centered, and co-constructed approach to this issue, organizations can better address its problematic outcomes. Organizations can deploy the use of Jackson’s (2002) cultural contracts theory to move professionalism from a ready-to-sign contract and allowing members to negotiate what professionalism is within an organization. This does not mean that organizational members choose individually what professionalism is, but rather organizational members should inform what policies, actions, and rules mean. By mindfully considering organizational members meanings, organizations can better construct clear professionalism guidelines that abandon the race and gender assumptions guiding current understandings of this term.

The final recommendation we offer are cultural audits. Organizations striving to address hidden or overlooked problematic practices should allow cultural auditors to engage in co-construction, by engaging with their members to highlight internal problems. Cultural auditors would be tasked with providing feedback to the organization on how biases are enacted at all levels of the organization, as it pertains to inequality within the group. By addressing these practices, culturally competent policies can be reinforced, and the effectiveness of policies can be evaluated. These auditors could conduct trainings to “deprogram,” and identify problematic thinking and actions. In summary, organizations have to be purposeful in addressing the experiences of organizational minorities. It isn’t enough to not be racist, organizations must adopt anti-racist practices which require deep reflection and education on the deeply embedded nature of institutionalized racism.

Conclusion

The paradox of the Black Professional is a communicative phenomenon with serious material implications. It is important to acknowledge whitewashing discourses within professionalism and address the implications they have on marginalized groups.

Some of the strengths of this novel exploration are the length of study, rigorous analysis, and study methods. Participants provided deep and rich data in their answers to researcher questions. The semi-structured nature of the interviews allowed for participants to give detailed information about their experiences with professionalism. The semi-structured interviews also allowed the researchers to investigate interesting ideas which may have gone unnoticed in other interviewing protocols. The intricate analysis allowed for a deep exploration of emerging themes.

This study also had limitations. This study did not examine how discourses of professionalism can be destabilized and how professionalism discourses are given agency among dominant groups. We call on future research to explore these issues with particular attention to processes of institutional discrimination. Future research on the paradox of the Black Professional should focus on ways to address and eliminate the paradox.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the co-researchers who took part in this study for sharing their valuable insight. In addition, we acknowledge the countless numbers of Black families affected by racialized violence and are hopeful that this study will provide one avenue for positive change. This research would not have been possible without the love and encouragement from our families and support systems. The first author would specifically like to thank his wife Shanika, his friend Dr. Angela Gist-Mackey, and his brothers and sisters for helping him through this process. Every day he values the opportunities to be with his family and to give voice to silenced marginalized communities.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Marcus W. Ferguson Jr

Author Biographies

Marcus W. Ferguson Jr (PhD Candidate, University of Missouri-Columbia) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri, USA. His current research focuses on the experiences of Black professionals. His research interests also include race/ethnicity, diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Debbie S. Dougherty (PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri. Her research explores issues of power in organizational contexts, particularly as it relates to marginalized populations.

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