Prompt Cast
Challenges faced by Black women in economics
TLDR Dr. Sadie Alexander and Dr. Cecilia Conrad were among the first Black women to break into the field of economics, facing significant challenges and discrimination along the way. Despite these obstacles, they paved the way for future generations by asserting their expertise and founding organizations like The Sadie Collective to promote diversity in economics.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Dr. Sadie Alexander was the first Black person to receive a PhD in economics in the United States 100 years ago, but faced significant challenges entering the field.
03:15
Dr. Cecilia Conrad shares a story about facing challenges as one of the few Black faculty members at Duke University in the early 1980s while teaching an intro to microeconomics class.
06:22
Professor Conrad faced challenges from white students who questioned her qualifications as a Black faculty member, leading an older economics professor to advise her to assert her expertise by intimidating them with calculus.
09:30
A Black economics professor asserts her expertise by intimidating white students with calculus, establishing her credentials and authority in the classroom.
12:40
Carrie Cruz's experiences with international money orders in middle school led her to realize the importance of diverse representation in the field of economics.
16:03
Anna Gifty Apoku Ajman co-founded The Sadie Collective to create a space for black women in economics after realizing the lack of diversity in the field during an economics conference.
19:05
The Sadie Collective has successfully organized three conferences and secured real sponsors to support their efforts in bringing more diverse talent, particularly black women, into the field of economics.
