There has been an increasing emphasis on equity, social justice, and diversity (ESD) curriculum in higher education graduate programs. Nevertheless, Black women in doctoral programs at historically white institutions (HWIs) often experience various challenges in classroom environments and with various curriculum and instruction approaches that distort their intelligence and preserve the myth of racial and gender inferiority. Intersectionality as a theoretical framework and methodology was employed to understand Black women’s experiences as students in Higher Education Administration doctoral courses with espoused ESD learning outcomes and objectives. Findings for this study suggest that Black women doctoral students served as both learners and educators in these classroom spaces; they had to navigate surveillance and stereotypes from both peers and professors; and (non)critical classroom communities created challenges and opportunities for deepening their learning on ESD. Implications for doctoral courses with espoused ESD learning outcomes and objectives are to center subjugated knowledge that honors different ways of knowing and being by creating genuinely inclusive learning experiences to foster all students’ development of critical consciousness.

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