Killing the black body

Paperback, 373 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 1999 by Vintage Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-679-75869-3
OCLC Number:: 40699082

Killing the Black Body remains a rallying cry for education, awareness, and action on extending reproductive justice to all women. It is as crucial as ever, even two decades after its original publication.

“A must-read for all those who claim to care about racial and gender justice in America.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

In 1997, this groundbreaking book made a powerful entrance into the national conversation on race. In a media landscape dominated by racially biased images of welfare queens and crack babies, Killing the Black Body exposed America’s systemic abuse of Black women’s bodies. From slave masters’ economic stake in bonded women’s fertility to government programs that coerced thousands of poor Black women into being sterilized as late as the 1970s, these abuses pointed to the degradation of Black motherhood—and the exclusion of Black women’s reproductive needs in mainstream feminist and civil rights …

Killing the Black Body remains a rallying cry for education, awareness, and action on extending reproductive justice to all women. It is as crucial as ever, even two decades after its original publication.

“A must-read for all those who claim to care about racial and gender justice in America.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

In 1997, this groundbreaking book made a powerful entrance into the national conversation on race. In a media landscape dominated by racially biased images of welfare queens and crack babies, Killing the Black Body exposed America’s systemic abuse of Black women’s bodies. From slave masters’ economic stake in bonded women’s fertility to government programs that coerced thousands of poor Black women into being sterilized as late as the 1970s, these abuses pointed to the degradation of Black motherhood—and the exclusion of Black women’s reproductive needs in mainstream feminist and civil rights agendas.

“Compelling. . . . Deftly shows how distorted and racist constructions of black motherhood have affected politics, law, and policy in the United States.” —Ms.

3 editions

Ben Waber reviewed Killing the black body by Dorothy E. Roberts

A Slightly Dated but Still Incisive Investigation

5 stars

I read the 2020 version that has an updated preface, which spends some time reviewing developments since this book's original publication. That certainly helps set the stage, although I do wish some of the language in the book was also updated since some of it hasn't aged well. However, this is still an important investigation of the control, regulation, and cultural interpretation of Black reproduction over US history, with most of the focus on the 1980-1997 era. Roberts shows over and over how a combination of intentional policy choices and a complete lack of political will to deal with the underlying causes of poor Black maternal health and economic conditions has led to appalling outcomes for Black mothers and their families. It's all the more painful reading this today, because not only have we failed to deal with these issues, but also the meticulous legal analysis that Roberts provides here …

I read the 2020 version that has an updated preface, which spends some time reviewing developments since this book's original publication. That certainly helps set the stage, although I do wish some of the language in the book was also updated since some of it hasn't aged well. However, this is still an important investigation of the control, regulation, and cultural interpretation of Black reproduction over US history, with most of the focus on the 1980-1997 era. Roberts shows over and over how a combination of intentional policy choices and a complete lack of political will to deal with the underlying causes of poor Black maternal health and economic conditions has led to appalling outcomes for Black mothers and their families. It's all the more painful reading this today, because not only have we failed to deal with these issues, but also the meticulous legal analysis that Roberts provides here relies on case law which has since been overturned and the fact that the rule of law in the US has perilously crumbled, to the point where reasoned analysis is secondary to the political desires of the Supreme Court's extreme members. Despite that, one hopes that eventually these lessons can be applied once we as a society decide it's time to truly deliver justice and reform our entire system for the better. Highly recommend

Ben Waber

rated it

September 20

Subjects

Birth control -- United States.
African American women -- Civil rights.
Race discrimination -- United States.

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