This book examines how black women have identified challenges in major social institutions across history and demonstrated adaptive leadership in mobilizing people to tackle those challenges facing black communities. Most studies about black women and social justice issues focus on the responses of black women to racism within the context of the feminist movement and/or the responses of black women to sexism in black liberation movements. Such discussions often fail to explore the ways in which black women's commitment to negotiating their racial, gender, and class identities, while engaged in the practice of leadership, is discouraged and ignored. Black Women as Leaders analyzes the commitment of contemporary black women to social justice issues from the perspective of adaptive leadership. It shows how black women are often forced into the public practice of leadership due to violent attacks from people with whom they are in engaged in interpersonal relationships. The book also breaks new ground by revealing how black women suffer from the devaluation and vilification of their engagement in the practice of leadership in private settings, such as their homes and selected religious and institutional settings.