Black mothers and birthing people are shown to be grossly neglected and misunderstood by the medical industrial complex that is our current healthcare system.
And beyond bringing life into the world, Black motherhood is fraught with societal strife, from the Moynihan Report released in March, 1965 to seemingly never-ending incidents of Black youth being killed by police brutality. Is there another way to frame Black motherhood other than a site of trauma and crisis? For example, what political power have Black mothers and birthing people been able to garner in the past few years within our volatile political arenas? Dr. Jennifer C. Nash, longtime celebrated scholar and the Jean Fox O'Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University, joins host Mark Anthony Neal to discuss these very issues through her recent book, "Birthing Black Mothers," published by @DukePress in 2021. Dr. Nash also serves as the Margaret Taylor Smith Director of the Program in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies at Duke.