A term coined by psychiatrist and Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce in 1970 to describe insults and dismissals he regularly witnessed non-Black Americans inflict on African Americans. In 1973, MIT economist Mary Rowe extended the term to include similar aggressions directed at women, and those of different abilities, religions, disabled and other social identity groups. Psychologist Derald Wing Sue, who has done considerable research on the phenomenon, defines microaggressions as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership.” This process is often unconscious and may be unintentional.