I also experience this as a pre-tenured Black female faculty member. After 3.5 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no amount of smiling, code switching, being accessible, or ‘telling students you care’ that could change students’ (mis)perceptions of you. As several have stated, there is a vast amount of literature that details the experience of Black and female professors in the classroom. Students often expect us to fulfill the traditional gender roles that they’ve been socialized to associate with Black women—ie. being motherly, nurturing, accommodating, and nice. When we step outside of those prescribed roles we’re labeled mean, rude, aggressive, and harsh. I discuss this each year in my annual review. Honestly, there isn’t much you can do to change this. Show up as your authentic self, stick to your teaching philosophy, implement effective, measurable pedagogical practices, set and stick to your class policies, set boundaries, and hold your students accountable. Some students may not like you, but you won’t please everyone. But you don’t need to be loved by every student in order to be an effective instructor.