This year’s Grammy Awards featured a powerful performance by a pregnant Beyoncé. Her medley of the songs “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” explicitly mentioned the unique relationship mothers and their children share, describing both the security and anxiety of finding similarities between oneself and their mother. Although the tribute to motherhood can ring true for nearly all women in some way, Beyonce’s performance featured a unique acknowledgment and reverence for black motherhood rarely expressed in the media. Her performance during Black History Month was no accident and it helped shift the tide away from the overwhelmingly negative portrayals of black mothers, which have permeated American culture for decades. Her performance featured a gold dress and headpiece reminiscent of the Yoruba goddess of fertility, Oshun, likening black mothers to deities. In addition, being surrounded by a diverse group of women and being able to lean back (represented by a chair) without falling showed the support network all women must contribute to in order to reflect the glory in all mothers – especially black mothers.
Representations of black motherhood in American media have been consistently troubled. Popular films like Precious and The Blind Side invalidated the credit black mothers in this country deserve. Precious’ mother is both physically and emotionally abusive towards her daughter and Precious’ own role as a mother is expressed with pity, at best. The Blind Side tells the story of a white mother succeeding where the protagonist, Michael Oher’s drug-addicted black mother failed. These films, among many others, only work to paint misconceptions about black mothers in the United States. Although I recognize that all stories of motherhood must have the opportunity to be shared, as even The Blind Side is based on a true story, there is still a lack of media showing inspirational black mothers. According to Fortune, black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in this country. Where are the stories of self-made black business women balancing family and ambition? I want to note that I write this not from the black perspective (as both myself and my mother are white), but from a feminist perspective. Intersectionality – which is the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage – is essential for modern feminism. When one group of women is being portrayed unfairly, all feminists should be upset. This is also why Beyoncé’s message and performance should be lauded for promoting the image of the empowered and strong black mother to offset the poor credit they’ve received in the past. With the recent departure of Michelle Obama, one of our nation’s most highly educated first ladies, Beyonce’s performance is a powerful step forward in helping to preserve the example Michelle Obama portrayed to our entire country. Hopefully more steps will be taken to uphold and embolden the image of black mothers in the media, and to recognize their unique contributions to the future of our nation.