This dissertation is structured in a non-traditional format allowing the primary researcher to seek journal publication in effort to promote awareness and advocate on behalf of African-American women doctoral students in counselor education. Chapter one introduces the experiences of African-American women as a unique group that deserves attention beyond the singular identity-focus of race or gender (Bowman & King, 2003). Chapter two is a separate conceptual article with a comprehensive literature review. Chapter three is also a separate conceptual article and qualitative study including a review of the literature, findings, and references. Chapter four examines the reflexivity of the primary researcher, and implications to continue future research on African-American women doctoral students using the contextually-approriate theoretical lenses of Womanism (Walker, 1983) and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1996). A phenomenological approach to understand the essence of African-American women doctoral students experiences in counselor education programs as they related to race and gender was documented. Using intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1996) and Womanism (Walker, 1983) as theoretical frameworks, the primary researcher sought to understand how the general academic experiences of African-American women doctoral students in counselor education were impacted by the intersection of race and gender. Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1996) is used in this study to examine how multiple sources of oppression intersect for African-American women doctoral students (Bastia, 2014), and how the intersection of race and gender explains their academic experience in counselor education programs. The use of Womanism (Walker, 1983) in this study seeks not only to understand the specific experiences of African-American women and how their intersecting identities influence their educational experiences, but center the experiences of African-American women who have been historically made invisible in the academic setting and within counseling literature (Grant, 2012).This study was a response to the limited amount of literature that center the experiences of African-American women doctoral students in counselor education, and the lack of attention towards the unique needs of African-American women in academia. Additional research is warranted in this area due to the significant amount of literature focused on marginalized groups but fail to acknowledge the intersection of multiple marginalized identities (Grant, 2012). Increased awareness for the needs of African-American women doctoral students and women of color in general in higher education are crucial for counselor educators who wish to recruit, retain, and graduate this group of students from their academic programs.