Black, Brilliant, and Tired: Naming the Unseen Labor of Excellence

Introduction

“How do you navigate campus life when your excellence is expected, but your exhaustion is invisible?”
For many Black university students, especially those at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), this is more than a rhetorical question. It’s a lived reality. While academia celebrates high achievement, it often ignores the emotional cost that comes with being one of the few. This article explores how intersecting forces like imposter syndrome, racial trauma, and the “minority tax” uniquely affect Black students and how the UIC Counseling Center can help.

Imposter Syndrome in Context
Imposter syndrome, originally defined by Clance & Imes (1978), describes persistent self-doubt and the internalized belief that one’s success is due to luck, not merit. But for Black students, these feelings are not just internal. They’re often reinforced by systemic factors: microaggressions, underrepresentation, stereotype threat, and lack of culturally affirming support systems (Feenstra et al., 2020).

At PWIs, these pressures can lead to academic disengagement and increased risk of depression (Pitt Journal of Politics and History, 2024). What looks like self-doubt is often a rational response to systemic exclusion.

John Henryism and the Minority Tax: The Cost of Representation
In Black communities, there is a long-standing cultural pressure to work twice as hard to get half as far. This coping mechanism, known as John Henryism, describes the tendency to combat stress and discrimination with extreme effort (James et al., 1983). But the cost? Burnout, physical exhaustion, and emotional depletion.
Similarly, the minority tax refers to the invisible labor placed on underrepresented students: being asked to serve on every DEI committee, educate peers about race, or represent “the Black perspective.” While these roles may offer visibility, they often come at the expense of rest, well-being, and academic bandwidth (Betancourt, 2024).

Layered Stressors: Intersectionality, Code-Switching, and Belonging
Black students also contend with intersectional burdens, especially those who identify as women, first-gen, LGBTQ+, or neurodivergent. The constant need to code-switch or emotionally mask in academic settings creates dissonance and fatigue. Without psychological safety—the ability to show up without fear of judgment or punishment—students may silence themselves, withdraw, or self-doubt their success.

You're Not Alone: How UIC Counseling Can Help
The UIC Counseling Center provides a range of free, confidential services for enrolled students,
including:
● Single-Session Appointments for brief support
● Drop-In Virtual Spaces to process specific concerns
● Workshops and Mind-Body Programs for managing stress, self-compassion, and
burnout
● Group and Individual Therapy tailored to diverse student experiences
● Crisis Support 24/7 at (312) 996-3490
These services create opportunities to reframe imposter syndrome as a systemic, not personal,
issue, and to heal in community (UIC Counseling Center, n.d.).

You don’t have to grind yourself down to prove you belong. You already do.

Let’s reframe success not as perfection, but as sustainability. Let’s release the need to perform excellence and reclaim the right to rest. And let’s challenge ourselves to ask not just how we cope, but how we liberate.

Sources:
Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The impostor phenomenon in high achieving women:
Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice,
15(3), 241–247.
Feenstra, S., et al. (2020). Contextualizing the impostor syndrome. Frontiers in Psychology, 11,
575024.
James, S. A., et al. (1983). John Henryism and blood pressure differences among Black men.
Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 6(3), 259–278.
Betancourt, J. R. (2024). The minority tax in academic medicine: Addressing the burden on
underrepresented minority faculty. Family Medicine, 56(3).
Pitt Journal of Politics and History. (2024). The mental health gap: Addressing racial disparities
in mental health care at PWIs.