By Demetrius Dillard
As many have taught over the years, the woman is commonly known as the first teacher of civilization. Dating back to the earliest cultures, civilizations and societies, the value and contributions of the Black mother are inexpressible.
Researcher and scholar Eileen Boris said that Black women, the most unequal and different in a culture where White men were and are the norm, concurrently sought equal rights and celebrated their femininity and Blackness.
“They sought to advance their race, to uplift black womanhood from the slurs of racism and the legacy of slavery, and they redefined the political and motherhood in the process,” she expressed in one of her scholarly works.
While the presence of upright Black fathers often serve as the strongest segment of a well-built family structure, Black motherhood has and always will play a vital role in the Black community.
Black motherhood has taken on many meanings, being defined through the biased lens of anti-Black propaganda, while some perspectives highlight the heroic capabilities of the Black woman, particularly the mother, as countless Black children endure the “bitter realities of racial existence” as author Parvin Ghasemi frames it.
Just as Black fathers are generally presented with the task of raising and producing upstanding, dignified Black men, the same is expected from Black mothers in reference to their daughters – not taking away from the possibility of the son learning from the mother, and the daughter from the father.
In a dangerous evolving world where social media perceptions, billboards and posters, reality television and the music and entertainment industries have had a deleterious effect on numerous young Black females — the necessity for high-functioning Black motherhood (or positive Black female or ‘motherly’ figures) is urgent.
Nina Lyon Jenkins, a former doctoral student at the University of Georgia, pointed out several misconceptions by White scholars about Black mothers in her dissertation “Black Mothers: Understanding Their Lives – Centering Their Experiences” (2005), providing a thoughtful response that uplifted Black womanhood and reinforced the how integral Black mothers are in the fabric of Black culture and life.
“The literature on Black motherhood offers two conflicting views of Black women in families: (1) Black women as domineering, castrating females under whose hand the Black family and the Black community are falling apart, or (2) Black women as romanticized, strong, self-sufficient females, responsible for survival of the Black family and the Black community. Neither of these viewpoints provides an accurate picture of Black motherhood, as they are both one-sided,” Jenkins wrote.
She went on to cite research highlighting that new, progressive scholars – as opposed to ‘deficit model theorists’ – understand the “ sociocultural, historical, economic, and political contexts of African American family life. Rather than interpreting the strengths of women as dysfunctional, recent scholars see the strengths of Black women as indispensable to their families’ health and survival. This new and challenging perspective is not meant to mask the very real problems of Black family life, but is intended to offer more effective solutions to remedy them.”
To Black America, Mother’s Day carries numerous implications, and seems to be one of the most highly anticipated days of the year in the Black community. To many, the holiday is a constant reminder of the sheer uniqueness, strength and elegance that Black maternity exudes.
Mother Magazine founder Katie Hintz-Zambrano quoted Tiffany Rose Smith, a writer and poet based in Texas, who expressed the significance of Black motherhood with such sophistication: “Black motherhood has always been and continues to be a beautifully divine, liberating, and revolutionary act.”
