This article utilizes the qualitative methodology of autoethnography for examining how doctoral programs create intellectual war zones for African American students through oppressive institutional socialization. Theoretically grounded in critical race theory, I utilize my counternarrative as an African American graduate student to describe the oppressive institutional socialization I encountered. This oppressive socialization was transmitted through the admission of racially and ideologically homogenous students, marginalizing course curriculum, and instructional classroom practices. I illustrate how each of these institutional decisions created a context that required an African American doctoral student to fight unspoken dichotomies such as the struggle between developing my intellectual identity and enduring institutional oppression. I also discuss the supports of my doctoral journey in an effort to highlight strategies that predominately White institutions (PWIs) can utilize to support the intellectual identity development of African American women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)