The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore how African American female college presidents were socialized to work as senior-level administrators at higher education institutions in the United States and to understand how race and gender impact their professional identity development. My goal is that this research study will provide some guidance to current university leaders to help them prepare new professionals in the leadership pipeline and inform human resource policies to recruit, retain, and engage African American female administrators. This study may also provide some insight into the professional and personal factors that influence the career advancement of African American women. Using the methodological traditions of grounded theory (Thornberg & Charmaz, 2014) and portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997), I used methodological bricolage (Kincheloe, 2001) to narrate the participants' lived experiences. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]