Community Mothering

Historical Overview

With kinship origins in early African societies, this collaborative maternal practice was promulgated by biological, or blood mothers, with other women, who in turn cared for biological children. In their seminal work, African American feminist intellectuals Bristow, Brand, and Collins assert that women who assist blood mothers are integral in the institution of African American motherhood. [Page 240]Grandmothers, sisters, nieces, aunts, cousins, sister-in-laws and neighbors act as community mothers by taking on childcare responsibilities for one another's children. In many African American communities, these women-centered networks of community-based childcare have crossed borders to include “fictive kin” or extended family members. When relationships were not between kin or fictive kin, community norms traditionally were such that neighbors cared for one another's children. Based on a class commonality, everyone looked out for each other.

Community mothering has maintained a strong resilience and sustenance throughout the passage of enslavement, transmigration, and displacement of African people. It survived the African Holocaust and transplanted and adapted it's tradition on the slave plantations, when older women were essentially the caregivers to children of slave parents. These women, in turn, passed on African indigenous knowledge and taught their community mother role to the younger generation. As transplanted peoples, cultural traditions such as music, language, and cuisine were kept alive and sustained within their new communities.

As women of African descent, the community mothers applied their experiences to a hostile setting in response to the need to preserve their tradition and move the community forward. These relationships were based on caring, protecting, and resisting oppressive circumstances. Their work was critical to moral and spiritual uplifting of the “black family.”

Current-Day Implications

In contemporary society, community mothering has come to signify cultural resistance and a voice of liberation and transformation. Many African Americans could not rely on mainstream, traditional childcare systems, so this cultural practice of cooperative/collaborative childcare continued. Community mothering as a familial system helps to maintain a communal and interdependent lifestyle.

However, it also appears to be in a state of flux in present-day circumstances, due to economic and social upheavals within urban centers. In part, the infiltration of drugs within African American communities has led to a growing disconnect between elders and youth. Even under adverse conditions, such as illness or drug or alcohol dependency, some African American women continue to engage in community mothering. The notion of a community of resistance is based on the idea of a resilient, sustainable network of elder, middle-aged, and young African American women who share power, agency, and authority to support, mentor, and communicate.

Public Eye

Community mothering transcends the boundaries of home or the private sphere. It extends to restaurants, grocery stores, public transit, community centers, places of worship, town halls, libraries, and other public domains. It reinforces a collective responsibility, irrespective of social and geographic location. These activities are transferred to various occupations. Many African American women, especially social workers and teachers, reinforce community mothering for the social and academic betterment of children in the African American community. As community mothers, African American women teachers impart to African American children their commitment to the survival and wholeness of the communities' children.

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