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Rising above Stereotype for Single Black Mothers
Autumn Newby
Rising above Stereotype for Single Black Mothers
Children from single black mother families have been center of stigma in the society for a long time. Not so long ago before Boris Johnson joined politics, he received backlash for describing children raised by single mothers as ignorant, ill-raised, aggressive and illegitimate (Caroll, 2019). This actually reflects what the society thinks of single parent families. Research indicates that 75% of single parents have faced stigma because of their status (Caroll, 2019). While the term ‘single mom’ is used to mean an unmarried woman, the context is politically and socially exaggerated to connotate bad or insufficient parenting, which is not always the case. Grange (2020) asserts that the irony bit is that married women are likely to complain that they parent alone in cases where their husbands do not support them accordingly. The stereotype becomes worse when a black unmarried woman is involved in raising their children. Evidently, 69% of African American households are ran by women (Grange, 2020). While the stories behind separations are painful and horrifying, the black women’s parenting experience is not always marred by incapacity as stereotyped by the society. It is important to shed the truth, show understanding to the black family in order to offer equal opportunities for their children to thrive in suitable environment free from ridicule and misinterpretation.
Indubitably, single black mothers go through unprecedented struggles raising their children, owing to the stereotyping and systematic racism, myths and prejudices by the current society. Single-parent families are perceived as broken homes whose children have deficits, are ill-mannered, perform poorly in school and have low self-esteem. It is quite common to hear that youths from single parent families are highly susceptible to substance abuse and indulge in crimes because of lacking father figures in their homes. Hicks (2012) believes that being a single mom is already hard, and the stereotypes just worsen the situation. She complains how other mothers at school treat her differently like her child would be a bad company to theirs, or she would steal their husbands or worse, she has a disease. These struggles make the lives of single black mothers to be unbearable.
A good number of single black mothers, however, has risen against the stereotypes and prejudices. They have seized opportunities and become overly successful despite their struggles. Such cases continue to inspire other single black mothers who feel overwhelmed by the warped view. Candance Parker, Joy Mangano, Emma Johnson, Melissa Kieling, Eileen McDonnell and Cathy Hughes are examples of women who have overcome odds and taken the centerstage as influential business leaders and successful entrepreneurs in the society today (Olya, 2021). If the society changes its mindset about single black women, a step towards the right direction in ending systematic racism would be achieved.
Feedback
Your rough draft starts out really well! But it ends quickly and doesn’t go very in-depth on your topic. You’ve highlighted a couple struggles, then quickly pivot to a couple Black women who have been successful in regard to money and wealth.
Your final paper needs to be at least 5 pages (references and title page not included). I’d like to see you expand into some of the specific struggles single mothers face, then discuss how that changes when the mothers are Black, and talk about some of the effects that can have on them, or how they go about their lives facing this stigmatized status.
You could also use the article Damned If You Do that we read earlier in class to discuss how this is especially harmful for poor Black teen moms. I know that it’s a bit difficult to understand because the writing is very technical, so just let me know if you need any help dissecting it.
When you discuss the women who have become successful, I’d like you to talk about what got them to that point, and why it’s so hard for others to break out of poverty. Were those women wealthy or middle-class to begin with? That’s really important to know because most Black single mothers are quite poor and don’t have the same opportunities as those in other classes. When you end with, “society should change,” I agree, but you need to be more specific. As is, it’s vague and doesn’t grasp what actually needs to change.
Adding all this should definitely take you to the page limit and also provide a deeper analysis and understanding of the issue.
References
Caroll, N. (2019). Why do single parents still suffer stigma? University of Huddersfield. https://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2019/december/single-parent-sigma/
Grange, C.M. (2020). Evolving the “Single Black Mother” Narrative. Medium. https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/evolving-the-single-black-mother-narrative-eaee03cce251
Hicks, M. (2012). The Single Mother Battle on Stereotypes. BWSS. https://www.bwss.org/the-single-mother-battle-on-stereotypes/
Olya, G. (2021). 5 Successful Single Mothers Who Overcame the Odds. GoBankingRates. https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/entrepreneur/5-successful-single-mothers-overcame-odds/
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