African American Motherhood Analysis

African American motherhood differs from White and privileged motherhood because of slavery and the standards society holds for African- American’s. During slavery, Black women took care of their own children until they were taken from them, and care for other’s children that were sold into slavery and separated from their families. Although slavery is over, the effects of slavery linger in various forms, the most surprising: motherhood. I will draw my research from Patricia Hill Collins, the author of Black Women and Motherhood, and Shifting the Center: Race, Class, and Theorizing about Motherhood. In this paper, I will briefly highlight the history of black motherhood whilst weighing on the lasting trauma that affects these women today.

In the reading, Patricia Hill Collins quotes, “Racial domination and economic exploitation profoundly shape the mothering context, not only for racial ethnic women in the U.S., but for all women,” (Collins Intro). She acknowledges that racial domination is used as a system of oppression meaning motherhood could be greatly affected based on racial division. Collins states “The way we conceive fundamental institutions are specific to race, class, and gender”, so these institutions will be a different to different people because they have different experiences (Collins Intro). Moreover, just as U.S. Black women’s work and family experiences varied during the transition from slavery to the post–World War II political economy, how Black women define, value, and shape Black motherhood as an institution shows comparable diversity”; motherhood experiences differ based on race and class therefore making African American motherhood dissimilar (Collins

This term: other mothering, can be defined as women that takes care of another woman’s child. As I previously mentioned, during slavery, black women took care of other women’s children because they were either separated while being sold to another plantation. This practice still goes on today in different forms. Collins describes grandmothers that take care of their grandchildren because either the mother is incapable, un simply unavailable (Collins 179). These relationships occur in specific locations such as the individual households that make up African-American extended family networks, as well as in Black community institutions all stemmed from slavery (Collins 176). Other mothering changes the dynamics of African American motherhood.

To conclude, African American mother’s experiences are different because of the traumas of slavery, segregation, and current racial division. Historically, White women, succeeded stepping on the backs of Black women since slavery. For example, The Suffragist movement stemmed for abolitionist fighting to end slavery, and during segregation, minority mothers worked as domestic servants taking care of White women’s children not being able to care for them until the end of their shift. Black women’s experiences are different because of their history making their motherhood experiences