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.
Golf
I worked with someone who wouldn't say hi to me for a year. He is Jewish and his initial reaction was that he didn't even want to know me. Now we play golf every other weekend together. We'll go to se
As I got more and more proficient in the job, there was more and more pressure to conform, to be someone other than who I was. There were little things. There were suggestions like, "you really need t
