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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
If you try really really hard
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- African-American
- Telecommunications
- Left & is now Self-Employed
- Personal Care & Service
- Assumptions
- Low Expectations
- Personal Response
- Stereotyping
I started at the phone company in 1965. I got hired as a service representative, which was a good job. I was just going to go for work for a while because we needed extra money for a refrigerator. When I was in the class, the training for becoming a service representative, my instructor-I remember her vividly-- said to me, "If you try really really hard, you could be a good service rep." So of course, when I was promoted within two months, I said to her, "I tried really, really hard." At that time, I just shook it off. But that statement has stayed with me my entire life. I felt like I didn't have a chance at anything beyond being a service rep, and even that wasn't likely. People don't think about what they are saying to you. For me it was a good thing, because it fired me up and I showed her.