scholarly journals From Mammy to Mommy: Michelle Obama and the Reclamation of Black Motherhood

Elements ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Querusio
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
First Lady ◽  
Feminist History ◽  
Michelle Obama ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Black Motherhood

On November 21st, 2013, <em>Politico</em> Magazine published Michelle Cottle’s piece titled “Leaning Out: How Michelle Obama Became a Feminist Nightmare.” Cottle pinpoints several explanations for Obama’s degeneration into such a “nightmare,” including the First Lady proclaiming to be a “mom-in-chief” and focusing on healthy eating. Melissa Harris-Perry, correspondent for MSNBC, retaliated quickly and criticized Cottle for her remarks, insisting that she should better study her black feminist history. This article argues that Cottle is oblivious to Obama’s standpoint as a black woman, and that by embracing motherhood, Obama is doing what many black women have been prevented from doing throughout history. This article draws from both historical accounts of black women during slavery and modern constructions of black femininity to address Cottle’s claims.

White House, Black Mother: Michelle Obama and the Politics of Motherhood as First Lady

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 460-483
Author(s):  
Gloria Y. A. Ayee ◽  
Jessica D. Johnson Carew ◽  
Taneisha N. Means ◽  
Alicia M. Reyes-Barriéntez ◽  
Nura A. Sediqe
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Mothers ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
First Lady ◽  
White House ◽  
Michelle Obama ◽  
History Of

AbstractIn 2008, for the first time in the history of this country, a black woman became First Lady of the United States. During Barack Obama's presidency, Michelle Obama was ever present in the public eye for her advocacy on issues related to health, military families, education, and for promoting the interests of women and girls. This article contributes to ongoing scholarly discourse, as well as extensive media coverage and analysis, regarding Obama's role as wife and first lady by critically examining how the particular model of motherhood she embraced and exhibited, a model firmly rooted in the black American community, was designed to challenge negative stereotypes of black women, maternity, and families. We address the following questions in this work: How did Obama's identity as a black woman influence the policies she championed as first lady? Does Obama's mothering relate to stereotypes of black mothers and help (re)define black motherhood, and if so, how? What does it mean to be a black mater gentis or mother of the nation? Drawing on her speeches and policy initiatives, we reveal how Michelle Obama defied dominant and oppressive stereotypes of black women and mothers while simultaneously (re)defining black womanhood and motherhood for the nation.

From Blaxploitation to Black Macho

2019 ◽  
pp. 183-201
Author(s):  
Terrion L. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Women Writers ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Ntozake Shange ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Black Women Writers

For commentators concerned with black cultural production in the contemporary era, there are few images more controversial than the angry black woman, particularly as it is reproduced within the confines of reality television. This chapter traces the lineage of the angry black woman back to key black feminist texts of the 1970s, arguing that the trope emerges out of a distinct sociopolitical history that was codified within both public policy and popular culture throughout the decade. Blaxploitation films became the site where black women’s anger was most visibly commodified, even as black women involved in an emergent black feminist movement worked to combat withering social commentaries that included Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s matriarchy thesis and sexist takedowns of black women writers like Ntozake Shange and Michele Wallace.

Michelle Obama as a Political Symbol: Race, Gender, and Public Opinion toward the First Lady

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 431-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Badas ◽  
Katelyn E. Stauffer
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Black Women ◽  
African American Women ◽  
White Women ◽  
First Lady ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Michelle Obama ◽  
Political Symbol ◽  
And Gender

AbstractPopular commentary surrounding Michelle Obama focuses on the symbolic importance of her tenure as the nation's first African American first lady. Despite these assertions, relatively few studies have examined public opinion toward Michelle Obama and the extent to which race and gender influenced public evaluations of her. Even fewer studies have examined how the intersection of race and gender influenced political attitudes toward Michelle Obama and her ability to serve as a meaningful political symbol. Using public opinion polls from 2008 to 2017 and data from the Black Women in America survey, we examine public opinion toward Michelle Obama as a function of respondents’ race, gender, and the intersection between the two. We find that African Americans were generally more favorable toward Michelle Obama than white Americans, with minimal differences between men and women. Although white women were no more likely than white men to view Michelle Obama favorably, we find that they were more likely to have information on Michelle Obama's “Let's Move” initiative. Most importantly, we find that Michelle Obama served as a unique political symbol for African American women and that her presence in politics significantly increased black women's evaluation of their race-gender group.

THE INTERSECTIONAL FIFTH BLACK WOMAN

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 527-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devon W. Carbado ◽  
Mitu Gulati
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
White Women ◽  
Feminist Criticism ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Men 2 ◽  
Ways Of Being

AbstractIn 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw published Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, an article that drew explicitly on Black feminist criticism, and challenged three prevailing frameworks: 1) the male-centered nature of antiracist politics, which privileged the experiences of heterosexual Black men; 2) the White-centered nature of feminist theorizing, which privileged the experiences of heterosexual White women; and 3) the “single-axis”/sex or race-centered nature of antidiscrimination regimes, which privileged the experiences of heterosexual White women and Black men. Crenshaw demonstrated how people within the same social group (e.g., African Americans) are differentially vulnerable to discrimination as a result of other intersecting axes of disadvantage, such as gender, class, or sexual orientation.This essay builds on that insight by articulating a performative conceptualization of race. It assumes that a judge is sympathetic to intersectionality and thus recognizes that Black women are often disadvantaged based on the intersection of their race and sex, among other social factors. This essay asks: How is that judge likely to respond to a case in which a firm promotes four Black women but not the fifth? The judge could conclude that there is no discrimination because the firm promoted four people (Black women) with the same intersectional identity as the fifth (a Black woman). We argue that this evidentiary backdrop should not preclude a finding of discrimination. It is plausible that our hypothetical firm utilized racially associated ways of being—performative criteria (self presentation, accent, demeanor, conformity, dress, and hair style)—to differentiate among and between the Black women. The firm might have drawn an intra-group, or intra-intersectional, line between the fifth Black women and the other four based on the view that the fifth Black woman is “too Black.” We describe the ease with which institutions can draw such lines and explain why doing so might constitute impermissible discrimination. Our aim is to broaden the conceptual terms upon which we frame both social categories and discrimination.

scholarly journals For Loretta: A Black Woman Literacy Scholar’s Journey to Prioritizing Self-Preservation and Black Feminist–Womanist Storytelling

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Baker-Bell
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Tenure Track ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Literacy Research

In this article, I used Black feminist–womanist storytelling to weave together stories from my childhood and early years on the tenure track to illuminate how Black female language and literacy practices and the strongblackwoman trope develop across a life span. Through these stories, I illustrate how I existed, resisted, and persisted during my first 3 years on the tenure track as a Black woman and emerging language and literacy scholar with a family. This research is significant as scholarship that centers Black women literacy researchers’ lived experiences is missing from the field. As such, this work contributes to presenting a fuller narrative of Black women literacy researchers’ experiences and working lives within and beyond the academy. This research also expands the field’s knowledge of what counts as literacy research by understanding the complex racial and gendered life span literacies of a literacy researcher of color. It is important for institutions and organizations to consider the knowledge, experiences, and stories I include in this article as recommendations to sustain Black women in academic spaces and shift the culture of academia to better support Black women’s work and journeys.

“Not for Lazy Moms”: The Real Housewives of Potomac’s Monique Samuels and the Branding of Black Motherhood

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-286
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R Hornsby
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
The Real ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Real Housewives ◽  
Black Motherhood

Abstract This article explores how Monique Samuels’s role in The Real Housewives of Potomac (TRHOP) and in her Not For Lazy Moms (NFLM) branded spaces, works both for and against the new momism to make visible black women’s experiences navigating essentialism, choice, and the identity work of black motherhood. Samuels’s positionality as a black woman leveraging her essential oils storyline into building a brand for herself brings the franchise into new cultural terrain: “the new momism.” Douglas and Michaels (2004) describe the new momism as a celebration of motherhood that encourages agency and autonomy but ultimately centers on intense devotion to childrearing. Samuels’s TRHOP storylines and extratextual self-fashioning deploy the tenets of the new momism and disrupt its inherent white supremacy to authenticate her identity through essential oils as a wellness commodity and curate an affective space for black women with her NFLM lifestyle brand.

Epilogue

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osizwe Raena Jamila Harwell
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Support Groups ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Mutual Support ◽  
Older Woman ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Women's Relationships ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This chapter culminates the book by revisiting emergent gendered themes from Campbell’s literary and activist work. A close look at her writing and life’s work evidences the continuation of black folk traditions, including themes of spirituality, mother/daughter relationships, and women’s relationships with one another. Additionally, she utilized preventative marital counseling, various support groups, spiritual practice, exercise, healthy eating, and other forms of self-care to sustain her activism over time. The black feminist/womanist strivings across various spheres of her life reveal her consistent “woman-identified” agenda. Campbell’s investment in the mutual support, spirituality, and wellness for black women are undertones of her writing and activism that should not be overlooked. Finally, by reviewing relationships between the two periods of activism and trends or shifts therein, we can see the impact of her early activism and consciousness on her later activism, writing and advocacy. The development or evolution of Bebe Moore Campbell’s approach to activism and the strategies she employed as a younger woman versus as an older woman offers insight on black women’s contemporary activism and sustaining activist involvement over a lifespan.

Scapegoating and the ‘angry black woman’

2021 ◽  
pp. 053331642199230
Author(s):  
Jacinta Kent
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Analytic Training

The scapegoating of ‘angry black women’ achieves the paradoxical feat of ascribing power while simultaneously taking it away. This article aims to highlight how women of colour may be scapegoated as a result of intersecting, deep-rooted, and malignant forces operating within the (un)conscious, with a particular focus on racism. A lack of relevant literature is identified so to better understand the causation and effects of this phenomenon, group analytic concepts are cross-pollinated with black feminist, white feminist, and black political theory. It is suggested that conductors could do more to manage destructive forces in groups and so three anti-racist approaches are proposed. Concluding thoughts note that if our groups are permeated by the social, the same may be said of our theoretical framework. It is hoped that by consulting other specialist disciplines and integrating their knowledge into group analytic training and professional practice, our aims of being more inclusive, accessible, and diverse become ever-more attainable.

Old-Age Justice and Black Feminist History

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (139) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Corinne T. Field
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Feminist History ◽  
Domestic Servants ◽  
Enslaved Women ◽  
Organization Of Care ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth Century United States ◽  
History Of Old Age

Abstract This essay outlines Sojourner Truth’s and Harriet Tubman’s articulations of an intersectional black feminist agenda for old-age justice. The two most famous formerly enslaved women in the nineteenth-century United States, Truth and Tubman in their speeches, activism, and published Narratives revealed the mechanisms of domination through which enslavers and employers of domestic servants extracted productive and reproductive labor from black women, who in turn faced premature debility and immiseration at the end of life. Truth and Tubman linked what is now called necropolitics—“subjugation of life to the power of death,” in Achille Mbembe’s phrase—to the coercive organization of care work, what Evelyn Nakano Glenn refers to as being “forced to care.” They point to the importance of gendered and racialized labor to the history of old age in America.

Birthing Black Mothers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Nash
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Critique ◽  
Black Mothers ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Michelle Obama ◽  
Political Category ◽  
Black Life ◽  
A Site ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Black Motherhood

In Birthing Black Mothers Black feminist theorist Jennifer C. Nash examines how the figure of the “Black mother” has become a powerful political category. “Mothering while Black” has become synonymous with crisis as well as a site of cultural interest, empathy, fascination, and support. Cast as suffering and traumatized by their proximity to Black death—especially through medical racism and state-sanctioned police violence—Black mothers are often rendered as one-dimensional symbols of tragic heroism. In contrast, Nash examines Black mothers’ self-representations and public performances of motherhood—including Black doulas and breastfeeding advocates alongside celebrities such as Beyoncé, Serena Williams, and Michelle Obama—that are not rooted in loss. Through cultural critique and in-depth interviews, Nash acknowledges the complexities of Black motherhood outside its use as political currency. Throughout, Nash imagines a Black feminist project that refuses the lure of locating the precarity of Black life in women and instead invites readers to theorize, organize, and dream into being new modes of Black motherhood.

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