What do we want? Answers. When do we want them? Now. Heartbreak and outrage at Lincoln University. Hey, hey, hold on. Jam, we have got to go. The Missouri HBCU, founded by former enslaved people more than 150 years ago, now at the center of a national controversy.

We will honor Dr. Bailey. She will not be dismissed by this institution.

This was the scene around the College out of town just weeks after senior administrator, Antoinette Candia Bailey, died by suicide in January.

We need the university to know that we're hurting, and we need some type of help and transparency in order for us to move forward.

Why do you think it struck such a nerve and sparked such a conversation.

It was shocking. I think there was a lot of fear that if the experiences that black women are going through are not being paid attention to, that they can have really devastating results.

Before her death, the Vice President of Student Affairs, known affectionately around campus as Dr. Bonnie, alleged that she was harassed and bullied by her colleagues, including the University President, John B. Moseley.

Her death rocked the nation, even beyond academic spaces. But I think for Black women in academia, it was definitely a wake-up call.

In a statement, the University called Candia Bailey's death, Tragic, and hired an outside firm to investigate her claims. The University President, Moseley, was recently reinstated after what the Board of Curators called an exhaustive independent investigation, which found no evidence that Dr. Moseley bullied Dr. Candia Bailey. Those close to her reacting to the investigation's results.

My confidence in the thoroughness of the investigation is zero. Bonnie was not a person to mince words, or if she felt bullied, if she felt unheard, unseen, then that's what it was.

It's frustrating. Abc News reached out to the University and Moseley and didn't hear back. In a statement, Moseley said, Our thoughts and prayers have been and continued to be with Dr. Bailey's family, friends, and our campus community. I am grateful to the Board of Curators for their faith in me and their vote of confidence. Candia Bailey's tragic death, putting a harsh spotlight on the struggles and hurdles that many Black women say they face in higher education education and beyond. Social media lighting up. The suicide of Dr. Antoinette Candia Bailey has me hot. I mean, hot like pissed hot. With women sharing their reactions.

I see myself and so many of you guys in her.

And their own experiences. Black women are taught to be strong all the time, and nobody wants to care about our pain.

It is literally killing us.

In recent months, some of the most prominent Black women at the highest levels of academia publicly ousted. Texas A&M has agreed to pay Dr. Kathleen McElroy as part of a settlement agreement. Harvard President Claudine Gay is stepping down. Recent data shows Black women account for about 2% of tenured professors in colleges and universities across the country.

Tenure is the highest status that you can achieve at a university. So black women get hired, but And they aren't getting tenure, and they aren't being moved through that process.

That uphill battle, something Candia Bailey was aware of. After graduating from Lincoln University in 1998, the Chicago native spent more than 20 years climbing the ladder of academia. Here she is in 2016 at a thesis competition at North Carolina A&T State University. Attempts need to be addressed to look at how African-American women can increase in advance in higher education. These factors also link to being treated like the help, the outsider within, keeping them away from the table.

I love the orange because it's vibrant like her personality.

Ladonna Flanigan is Candia Bayly's aunt.

Bonnie was a very caring and kind, selfless person. She loved very hard, and I know that's why so many people loved and gravitated to her.

When she got hired by Lincoln University, it was a dream come true.

Basically captured the heart of our relationship, which was always laughing.

Omega Tillman and Candia Bayly were sorority sisters.

When she got the interview, she sent us this text message, I'm trying to get the VP job, and I really, really need you to pray because I really want this.

But the sweet dream soon soured. After nine months on the job, Candia Bailey was terminated. Five days later, the 49-year-old died by suicide, leaving behind a scathing note where friends say she alleged being bullied at work.

Basically, it says, You intentionally harassed and bullied me and got satisfaction from sitting back to determine how you would ensure I failed as an employee. I absolutely feel like she felt like she had to be Superwoman. She had in her mind, I've got to make sure that I don't fail because I feel like that's what they're expecting.

Pressures. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Nicole Hannah Jones, knows all too well.

It's a struggle to be respected. It's a struggle to be heard. There's so many obstacles, and often, the higher you ascend, the lonelier it gets.

Hannah Jones made headlines for initially being denied tenure at the University of North Carolina's Journalism School, her alma mater in 2021. Women. After some university board members, reportedly, opposed her appointment because of her involvement with her award-winning 1619 Project, which chronicled the history of Black Americans.

You can play the game, and then they'll just change the rules of the game on you. That is the frustration that so many Black women have. Even when we have tried to make ourselves undeniable, in the end, we can be denied, and it has nothing to do with our work ethic, our ambition, or our talent.

The New York Times journalist ended up taking a tenure position at Howard University in HBCU. We're talking about academia, but more broadly, do you think that there is more work to be done in corporate America, in just America, to make it where Black women can not only be, but thrive?

These conversations are not about handouts. They're not about giving black women something that they don't have the ability to earn on themselves. It's simply about being fair and allowing Black women to live up to their full potential so that our entire society can benefit.

Everybody experiences stress related to employment. But study after study after study has shown that Black women, specifically, experience disproportionate amounts of stress.

Clinical psychologist Inge Burnet-Ziegler studies the mental health of Black women. According to the CDC, Black and other women of color tend to be evaluated more harshly than men and white women as they navigate harmful stereotypes at work.

The stereotype of the angry Black woman, the stereotype of the strong black woman, the stereotype of the hyper sexual black women.

All this, experts say, can lead some black women to face mental health struggles.

The number one thing that I believe black women can do to protect their mental health is establish very clear boundaries. Being a strong Black woman can come with taking on too much, feeling like you just can't take it anymore. And often we don't recognize it until it's gone too far.

Meanwhile, the next generation of black women academics are forging their own community. Ijeama Kola is a history professor at the University of Notre Dame. She founded Cohort Sisters four years ago.

So that's where Cohort Sisters really came in. This idea that we're not alone. We have one another. We have this community, this rich community of doctoral scholars that we can lean on and that we can support.

It really has me reflecting on my own experience with mental health and what resources that had access to as a PhD student.

If you are going through something, just post it on the platform. People will encourage you. We might not have an answer, but somebody will say, It's okay, sis. You're going to be okay. Sometimes that is all you need to hear. It doesn't matter if there are more of us with doctoral degrees, if we are not well, if we don't have the internal capacity to navigate the spaces that we're in, but also if we don't work to systematically change the culture of the environments that we inhabit.

Back in Missouri, Lincoln University acknowledging that there is more work to be done. Writing in a statement, This tragedy has forced us to grapple deal more fully with issues facing Lincoln and our individual students and employees, ranging from mental health support to employee work and relationships. What do you think justice looks like for Dr. Candia Bailey?

I don't think it's possible. What we can do, though, is to try to create an environment where we don't have to have what happened Dr. Bailey anymore.

For those who knew and loved Candia Bailey, they're calling on change in her memory.

I'm hoping that response would lead to a larger conversation around the country because so many women may be suffering.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, free confidential help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call or text the National Lifeline at 988. Our thanks to Janée for that report.