BLACK ACTIVIST MOTHERING - A HISTORICAL INTERSECTION OF RACE, GENDER,AND CLASS

The prevalence of poor health among young disadvantaged Black mothers and their children has prompted a revival of maternal activism among B lack middle-class urban women. A study of the California-based ''Birth ing Project,'' founded in 1988, reveals that such activism is best und erstood as a modem-day version of Black activist mothering practiced b y African American clubwomen from the time of slavery to the early 194 0s. This article demonstrates the legacy of ''normative empathy'' as a significant motivator for middle-class maternal activism and as a bas is for a middle-class critique of Black mothering among the disadvanta ged.