By Annabelle Woghiren
“Culture passes down through the mother.” – That is a Nigerian saying. Being a mother has never been an easy job, from the process of pregnancy, down the raising of a human life – motherhood is a journey which takes love, compassion, hard work and strength. Mothers utilise their experiences and treatment within society as a foundation to pass down to their kids – a set of tools for them to navigate the world. For the most part, mothers have been cited as ‘role models’, ‘inspirations’, and motivations. What is important to acknowledge and unpack is how Black mothers in particular are able to navigate the world with unique experiences as individuals, and raise their children with hope, love and understanding.
To provide history and context to show the unique yet incredibly difficult history of Black mothers, the often overlooked history of ‘wet nursing’ provides an explicit example. Some historians believe this practice originated in the 1600s while malaria was claiming many lives of the white settlers. Initially as some sort of remedy to prevent malaria deaths, slave owners believed that feeding their babies with milk from the native enslaved people would provide natural immunity towards Malaria. As time progressed, white mothers began to consider breast feeding below their ‘social status’ – since it was unfashionable as it kept them from wearing trendy items of the season – and therefore began to own ‘wet nurses’. Wet nurses, and thus black mothers, began to be seen as a wealth and status. As it became a trend, it became a commodity. Slave owners began timing their pregnancies with that of the enslaved black women and then forefully separated enslaved new mother from their infants to serve as wet nurses for their children. As black women had the multi-faceted identity as ‘slave’, woman and wet nurse, they began to milked like cows to produce milk as a product. Wet nursing was also used as a form of birth control to control black women and their bodies. Just as black women were devalued and abused on a daily basis, their products and their use began to become increasingly popular. The milk from black women was labelled ‘liquid gold’ as it was believed that it provided strength and health to the babies.
At the same time, the sterotype of a ‘bad black mother’ began to perpetrate. It justified the practice of wet nursing as a whole and attempted to breed disconnect between black infants and their mothers. The creation of a mythical Mammy who loved the white children and took them under her care while she cold-heartedly disregarded her own, began to circulate around popular culture. A caricature of black women and a mockery of their abuse, began to be the main stereotype of all black women. The Mammy was also portrayed as a cruel mother who deserted her own children and family to serve her owners and enjoy the comfort of rare house labour. Although wet nursing as an act has been traced back to biblical times, black women remained the only group of people who were forced into the act.
This history of black women and the stereotypes they relentlessly overcome on an intersectional basis is something remarkable. Black women have faced a culture of struggle and oppression throughout time on an individual basis, yet they raise their children with love. They equip their children with hope and strength, and the framework to achieve big and beautiful things regardless of what they look like. The way that black mothers are able to use their experiences not as a setback, or to create a culture of struggle, but as lessons or motivation to maximise their potential, is very powerful and is something which needs to be appreciated. Black women have always deserved better and black mothers deserve recognition in everything they have done to educate, empower and protect their children. For this Mother’s Day, I am grateful for every single black mother out there. You are powerful, you are important and you are loved.
