The Ethos of Black Motherhood in America: Only White Women Get Pregnant. Kimberly C.

Harper. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. 118 pages (including Appendices). $95

Hardback, $45 e-book.

Publisher webpage: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793601421/The-Ethos-of-Black-

Motherhood-in-America-Only-White-Women-Get-Pregnant

Reading Kimberly C. Harper’s The Ethos of Black Motherhood in America: Only White Women Get
Pregnant opened a door into the analysis of black motherhood and challenges that black motherhood is
faced with through a variety of channels, such as the history of black motherhood, how it ties into race
and class. Harper organizes the sections of the book by history, including chattel slavery, and
reproductive medicine, delving into current issues, such as Roe v. Wade. This is a book about
reproductive health, social justice, and how black motherhood gets treated as less than. She laid out
exactly how she was going to go about the journey and we were merely just to follow. Starting from the
very beginning of the book, the eight-month pregnancy anecdote in the introduction really set the tone
for the rest of the novel. Through that anecdote, we are able to see where Harper is at mentally when
describing black motherhood for herself. Harper poses the question “what if” in terms of race, gender,
class, etc. We get these same categories throughout the book and the same “what if” question.

After the introduction, the book is split up into two sections. The first section is chapters one through
four. In chapters one, two, and three, Harper discusses chattel slavery, the way black women were
perceived in this time of chattel slavery, and how this perception is still alive to this day, just in a
different form. Harper describes the stereotypes and tropes if black women, black mothers, and black
people during the times of slavery. The perception of black women, in the times of chattel slavery, was
not motherly or anything positive and that negative perception of black women is still there today, with
black women being called “breeder woman,” unwed welfare queens,” and “teen mothers” and
“pregnant crack-addicted mothers”. These terms, while during chattel slavery times, were used to
control Black women and their reproduction. Black women had no control over themselves in any
aspect. They were slaves, so they were taken advantage of by the master and were made to have
babies, who would more than likely be separated from them through auctions and possible, child death.
Harper also discusses how a white woman can do the same thing as a black woman but there are no
negative stereotypes impacting the white woman. This was also true in chattel slavery times, with the
white woman being seen as “weak” compared to black women. Harper discusses how, in this time,
American ideology was and the connection with that ideology and ethos. Black women had and still do
have a separate ethos; an ethos that allows those around them to harm them. It was common in these
times for doctors to stereotype black patients, but women especially during childbirth, as being “thick-
skinned,” amongst other racial tropes that doctors, who helped slave owners take medical care of
slaves, would say to make a case for doing unnecessary medical experimentation, such as
nonconsensual medical treatments. These nonconsensual medical treatments were those to control
black women’s fertility. Black women didn’t and in a sense now, still don’t, have full autonomy over
themselves. Harper also mentioned how James Marion Sims’, an infamous doctor, would perform
surgeries on enslaved black women and would offer them no anesthesia. Chapter four is a summary of
chapters one through three, where Harper makes the case that as a nation, America has dehumanized
black women when it comes to motherhood. Because of this dehumanization, there is a high maternal
mortality rate. She also mentions, like she does throughout the book, that class, race, and gender, also
come into play. Harper, in chapter four, goes on to discuss maternal ideology. She described maternal
ideology through the lenses of institution/ideology, experience/role. And identity/subjectivity. This leads
Harper into discussing Lindahl Buchanan’s 2013 chart of god-terms of motherhood, where Harper
speaks on the impact of race and rhetorical power of silencing black mothers.

Chapter 5, Harper discusses pregnancy literature for black mothers and the fact that black mothers are
rarely seen in pregnancy literature. The covers usually have white women, their children, and even
white fathers, while black women and children are hardly seen and black fathers don’t even appear. In
section two, in chapters six and seven, Harper discusses the history of reproductive medicine; this
includes Roe v. Wade. When it comes to Roe v. Wade, while it will impact all women and people with a
reproductive system, Harper discusses how it will impact Black women more because of the limited
access to abortions and reproductive care. It is also noted that the pro-choice movement doesn’t really
have anything to do with black women and their motherhood because the movement is centered
around white women and their access and improved care, not black women’s. Harper also discusses
how the shift of homebirths to hospital births and non-mid wife-directed care because of the loss of
midwifery, led black women to be shown the racism that is in the medical field. With the racism that is
in the medical field, black women can suffer not only physical harm but psychological harm as well, as
Harper mentioned in the beginning through her anecdote of her pregnancy. Harper mentions that there
are many groups and organizations that can get black women access to midwife services. In chapter
eight, Harper discusses that all women, including black women, should have the right to have children
under safe conditions but more importantly, the children that women decide to have must be able to be
raised to see their full protentional. Harper says in order to do this, communities need to be healthy and
the only way black communities can be healthy is by seeing the injustice they face and correcting it.
Harper says “When our children can leave home and roam freely in society and we expect they will
return home, then reproductive activists have created a safe and healthy environment which is a core
value of reproductive justice.” Harper goes on to say that the school-to-prison pipeline is very much real
and violence, coming in the forms of white citizen violence and police violence, also plague the black
communities. Chapter 8 also includes how black people, especially black women, face microaggressions
and macroaggressions. Black people are also silenced when it comes to standing up for themselves.

Harper ends her book by saying that simply recognizing one’s bias against black women is not enough to
stir change but having classes where teachings can be given to medical students would produce
graduates who are more equipped to handle the needs of black women. Harper ends the book with
these words “While the image of Black motherhood is slow to change and may never change, Black
women have not let society’s ill-conceived perception stop them from demanding that their voice be
heard and that is what is more important. Our Voice. Our Need. Our Action. Our RESISTANCE.”

Kimberly C. Harper’s The Ethos of Black Motherhood in America: Only White Women Get Pregnant is a
powerful book that can be used for classes such as Dr. Erin Frost’s Health and Medical Rhetorics class at
East Carolina University or a great resource for patients and doctors who want to delve into more of the
rhetoric side of medicine. I also believe this book would be great for medical classes. The impact of this
book is much more than I was expecting and I believe everyone from undergrad to medical school would
be able to get something out of this.