Abstract
This chapter will focus on Black women’s strengths while mothering daughters during childhood, teen and womanhood stages. Most research on single black mothers has been conducted through traditional frameworks exploring their shortcomings and blaming them for systemic negative outcomes in their communities and society at large. Instead, this study turns to single black mothers and daughters to hear their stories. The primary theme emerging from this study is ways in which the strength and resilience of single black mothers is transmitted to daughters as an inheritance, and as an act of resistance. Using a Black feminist framework to examine how Black women mothered their daughters revealed various levels of interdependence between the mother and her daughter during childhood, teen, and womanhood stages. This data analysis reveals that daughters also inherit their mothers’ oppressions from their intersectional identities and shared circumstances. Witnessing a mother’s resiliency and strength from struggles during the childhood and teen stages forged a collective consciousness during the womanhood stage. The findings will help educational and social institutions develop culturally sensitive curricula to foster diversity and representation in curriculum for Black girls.
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McFerrin-Surrency, Y.E., Liston, D.D. (2023). Mothering for Resilience and Empowerment: Narratives of Single Black Mothers and Their Daughters. In: Muia, D., Phillips, R. (eds) Connectedness, Resilience and Empowerment. Community Quality-of-Life and Well-Being. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35744-2_10
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