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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.
I'm not Tamika
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- African-American
- Law Firm
- Considering Leaving
- Fitting In
- Mistaken Identity
- Stereotyping
Sometimes somebody would get the African-American women in the office confused, and I would get another African-American woman's documents delivered to me. I'd be walking down the hall and someone would say, "Oh Tamika, I put those documents on your chair." I'm not Tamika, she's another African American female attorney. It's those kinds of things that happen and make you feel uncomfortable.