The contributors to this volume represent a dedicated community of scholars, executives, and activists who have conducted groundbreaking research on race, work, and leadership for decades. We extend our gratitude to each of them for generously sharing their keen insights and for bringing the black perspective to the forefront of a much-needed conversation about what it means to be black in various professional settings. A work of this magnitude could not have been completed without the thoughtful and diligent support our editorial assistants, Serenity Lee and Libby Quinn. They were instrumental in supporting the overall production process for each chapter and the edited volume as a whole, and we appreciate their enthusiasm, can-do spirit, and energy.

This volume was inspired by and developed in conjunction with the research and programming for Harvard Business School’s 2018 commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the African American Student Union (AASU50). For their leadership of the AASU50 initiative, we thank the core planning team members: Taran Swan (Project Director), NaDaizja Bolling (Staff Assistant), Serenity Lee (Research Associate), Cara Mathews (Program Manager), and Bennie Wiley (Adviser). We are indebted to Harvard Business School’s Division of Research and Faculty Development and the Gender and Leadership Initiatives, which sponsored the overall AASU50 commemoration activities, including this volume. We sincerely appreciate the support, encouragement, and counsel of Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria, Professor Robin J. Ely, and Professor Linda A. Hill.

This volume also benefited from various HBS colleagues who provided research, outreach, and programmatic assistance, including those in Admissions, Baker Library Special Collections, the Dean’s Office, External Relations, Marketing and Communications, and the Registrar’s Office. In particular, we appreciate the support of Colleen Ammerman of the Gender Initiative and Letty Garcia and Karina Grazina of the Leadership Initiative. We are also grateful for the research support we received from Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and Morehouse College.

We also wish to acknowledge the HBS Gender and Work Symposium presenters and participants in 2017 and 2018, who enthusiastically joined us in centering black experiences of race, work, and leadership in ways that stimulated our thinking and shaped our framing of this volume. Several of the symposium participants have authored chapters in this volume; we include the entire list here for full acknowledgment of their collective contributions. 2017 Race, Work and Leadership mini-conference participants: Modupe Akinola, Colleen Ammerman, Rachel Arnett, NaDaizja Bolling, Arthur Brief, Heidi Brooks, Lindsay Cameron, Stephanie Creary, Brook Dennard, Robin Ely, Rayshauna Gray, Charlice Hurst, Aida Hurtado, Elizabeth Johnson, Robert Livingston, Tony Mayo, Courtney McCluney, Tsedal Neeley, Tina Opie, Lakshmi Ramarajan, Joan Reede, Laura Morgan Roberts, Ashleigh Rosette, Nancy Rothbard, Lumumba Seegars, Taran Swan, David Thomas, Melissa Thomas-Hunt, and Alexis Smith Washington. 2018 Race, Work, and Leadership symposium presenters: Doyin Atewologun, Arthur Brief, Drew Carton, Stephanie Creary, Sreedhari Desai, Tracy Dumas, Sandra Finley, Diane Forbes, Kyra Gaunt, Zachary Green, Oscar Holmes IV, Tony Mayo, Courtney McCluney, Shira Mor, Cindy Pace, Addie Perkins, David Porter, Elena Richards, Aspen Robinson, Steven Rogers, Ashleigh Rosette, Lumumba Seegars, Rebecca Shaumburg, Alexis Smith, Ron Sullivan, Flora Taylor, Melissa Thomas-Hunt, Adia Harvey Wingfield, and Melissa Wooten.

The success of these symposia relied on the dedicated contributions of the HBS Gender and Work Symposium planning team members: Lauren Moran and Serenity Lee of the Division of Research and Faculty Development and Bethany Harris, Rayshauna Gray, Liz Johnson, and Colleen Ammerman of the Gender Initiative. We thank them all for their careful planning, attention to detail, and thoughtful follow-up.

We sincerely appreciate the enthusiastic support and visionary guidance of our editorial team at Harvard Business Review Press, especially Melinda Merino, editorial director and associate publisher. We also thank Alicyn Zall, editorial coordinator; Stephani Finks for the cover design; and Ashley Moore for copyediting assistance.

Finally, we thank our families for their love, support, and encouragement. They are the extended members of the village who made this important work a reality.