Article Mentoring, Managing, and Helping: A Critical Race Analysis of Socialization in Doctoral Education Michael Steven Williams 1 , Tiffany Jeanette Brown Burnett 2 , Talia Kay Carroll 3 , and Cameron J. Harris 4 Abstract This study utilizes a critical race theory framework to explore the ways race and gender influence Black doctoral students’ socialization experiences. Themes about the varied roles and identities of important socialization agents emerged from the data. Managing expectations, engaging in help-seeking behavior, and developing ful- filling mentoring relationships, also proved instrumental to these students’ retention and persistence in doctoral study. Furthermore, their experiences offer insights about the complexity of navigating the various relationships, including, but not limited to the traditional mentor-prote ´ge ´ , student–advisor relationship in doctoral studies as Black students. Through their narratives, participants describe vivid experiences of fear, distrust, and betrayal that halted their development as scholars. They also share stories of support, care, and triumph as the potential of supportive relationships are realized. Implications for praxis, theory, and future research are discussed. Keywords doctoral socialization, critical race theory, mentoring, black doctoral students Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice 0(0) 1–26 ! The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1521025116657834 csr.sagepub.com 1 Baruch College, City University of New York, NY, USA 2 The Graduate School, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA 3 University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, USA 4 School of Business, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA Corresponding Author: Michael Steven Williams, Baruch College, City University of New York, One Bernard Baruch Way, Box D-0901, New York, NY 10010, USA. Email: michael.williams@baruch.cuny.edu