Experiences of Black Women Understanding Racial Microaggressions and Identifying Replenishing Healing Practices

The pervasive and chronic racism of microaggressions (subtle, frequent, and negative slights that communicate messages of inferiority) has harmful psychological impacts for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), which are exacerbated for Black women whose intersecting racial and gender identities expose them to a unique oppressive reality. Some studies have investigated coping responses of Black women. However, research to date is limited in understanding how they transcend the harmful weathering burden of continually navigating gendered racial microaggressions and restore their wellness through healing practices. The present phenomenological study, grounded in constructivist and indigenous paradigms, was conducted by and for Black women with 13 participants and two co-facilitators. In two-part focus groups, they explored their experiences of (a) psychoeducational consciousness raising toward validating and deconstructing shared and unique microaggressions, and (b) replenishing healing. Results revealed themes, with sample quotes, describing their collective process of discerning psychoeducational prompts of microaggression taxonomies and healing strategies, including aspects that did and did not describe their experiences. Findings yielded evolved definitions of and practices for replenishing healing from microaggressions.