In the silence of her friends: a case study of the intersection of gender, race, age, and leadership in the dismissal of a public school superintendent

Abstract

Research interests in social conditions of women in leadership roles underlie this case study which explores the scarcely published voices of African American women in the superintendency of public education. This case study of the career of Dr. Charlie Mae Knight and her experiences in an urban district in California may contribute to the knowledge and literature of the superintendent's social capital and her ability to exercise political power equally with primary stakeholders in her district and in her community. Interpreting Dr. Knight's experiences may increase knowledge about the challenges faced by African American women, and by women generally as they balance competing roles as educational leaders and as political leaders in urban communities undergoing ecological succession.