This course explores the reasons Black women choose to become mothers and the experiences that profoundly shaped the decision. We will consider historical contexts as well as contemporary policy and politics of race, class and sexuality that shape the experiences of Black mothers. This includes mothers’ feelings about pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood; the resources available to mothers, the ways that mothers are represented (or represent themselves) in selected films, memoirs, photographs; the labor of
motherhood; and the “value” of care work and motherhood. (Meets University Studies Requirement for Social Sciences)