If the Sisterhood Turns Sour

Abstract A network of tenured Black women senior faculty and administrators mentored me at a Predominately White, Research-based Institution. I was unprepared when some became barriers to completing my tenure process. They misadvised me and challenged my autonomy in a climate in which we were all subjected to gendered anti-Blackness. The Predominately White, Research-based Institution environment cultivated a culture of silence and racial loyalty for our collective survival. Using Black existentialism and relational-cultural theory, this autoethnography examines how I navigated the complexities of intra-group relational and power dynamics and questionable mentoring that shaped pivotal experiences in my tenure process. I share the coping strategies that helped me achieve tenure and promotion to associate and full professor. Sisterhood networks in Predominantly White Institutions can effectively support Black women through tenure and promotion when relational dynamics are explicitly discussed, and a culture of accountability, trust, reciprocity, and autonomy is cultivated.