Black Activist Mothering: A Historical Intersection of Race, Gender, and Class Author(s): Katrina Bell McDonald Reviewed work(s):

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BLACKACTIVISTMOTHERING A Historical Intersection of Race, Gender,and Class

KATRINA BELLMcDONALD Johns Hopkins University

The prevalence of poor health among young disadvantagedBlack mothers and their children has prompted a revival of maternal activism among Black middle-class urban women. A study of the California-based"Birthing Project,"foundedin 1988, reveals thatsuch activismis best understoodas a modern-dayversion of Black activist motheringpracticed by AfricanAmericanclubwomen from the time of slavery to the early 1940s. This article demonstratesthe legacy of "normative empathy"as a for significant motivator middle-classmaternalactivismand as a basis for a middle-class critique of Black motheringamong the disadvantaged.

social policy andtechnologicaladvanceshave For morethan20 years,reformative done little to curb the unyielding threatof Black infant mortality.Although the overall infantmortalityrate in the United States has been on the decline for many years, recentfigures show thatBlack babiescontinueto die at more thantwice the rate of those of Whites (Fullilove 1993; Rowley et al. 1993; Singh and Yu 1995). This crisis, one of the most vexing problemsfor AfricanAmerica,was precipitated medical, sociodemographic,and psychosocial problems by a host of interrelated sufferedprimarily amongthe most vulnerable population: youngAfricanAmerican mothersof the "underclass" (Boone 1989; Fullilove 1993; Rowley et al. 1993). Whereas the root cause of elevated poor pregnancyoutcomes among African Americanslies in the historicallyoppressiveconditionsof Black women's lives, a popularargumentis thatthis crisis, like many others,has been exacerbatedby the of restructuring Black social capital. The persistenceof poor birth outcomes for
AUTHOR'SNOTE:Thisresearchwas supported grantsfromtheAmericanSociologicalAssociation by MinorityFellowshipProgram,the University CaliforniaMinorityDissertationFellowshipProgram, of and the CaliforniaState University DoctoralIncentiveProgram.A special debtis owed to Kathryn Hall, Brenda Mitchell, and the other participantsat the BirthingProject. I am grateful to James Cramer, Carole Joffee, Patricia Turner, AndrewCherlin,and TobyDitzfor their commentson earlier versions of this article andfor their ongoing support.KatherineVaastand Estelle Youngalso lent invaluable researchassistance to thisproject. REPRINTREQUESTS:KatrinaBell McDonald,Johns HopkinsUniversity, Departmentof Sociology, 540 Mergenthaler Hall, 3400 North CharlesStreet,Baltimore,MD 21218. GENDER SOCIETY, 11No.6, December & Vol. 1997 773-795 ? 1997Sociologists Women Society for in
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Blacks is often linked to the recent "Blackflight"of the middle class from urban areas(Anderson1990; Baca Zinn 1990; Wilson 1987, 1989). The resultantspatial concentration disorganized, of unskilled,andalienated"underclass" populationsin urbanneighborhoods saidto worsenthe most negativefeaturesof Black mothers' is lives by effectively severing the long-standinglink between Black middle-class maternalsupportand disadvantaged women. Claims aboutthe significanceof the social class schismin the Black community are not easily dismissed. For example, Black feminist theory has addressed, althoughscantily,the class polarizationof the Black communityand its potential to dismantlegender/ethnicsolidarity.Some authorsopenly admitthat the strong Black maternal activisttradition not immuneto the problemsof urbanization is and the dislocationof women fromthe "oncefamilial"character social relationships of withinthe community(Ladner1986, 17). As Collins explains,"Theentirecommuand of is nity structure bloodmothers othermothers underassaultin manyinner-city wherethe veryfabricof African-American neighborhoods, communitylife is being eroded"(1991, 122). of Nonetheless, while there has been a reorganization social relations among African Americanurbanwomen, the exodus of middle-classwomen from urban areashas not necessarilyresultedin an exodus of care, in the total removalof "an important'social buffer'thatcould deflect the full impactof the kind of prolonged and increasingpoverty that plagues [the inner city]" (Wilson 1987, 56). Modern Black activist women are concernedthat the social degradationand isolation of young Black mothershas led to the perceptionthatBlack pregnancyand motherand hood is not celebratedamongthe disadvantaged thatthe Black communityhas needs of AfricanAmericanchildbearing. failed to attendto the contemporary They that that understand social support was commonto Blackpregnancyandchildbearing among the poor and workingclasses from which they came is uncommonfor support-at leastin the formthey manymotherstoday;strong,cross-classmaternal of call to memory-is not characteristic modernBlack urbanlife. In assessing the damage,Black middle-classmaternalactivists have sought to rescue disadvantagedmothers from their increasingsocial isolation. They have foundit necessaryto evoke a sense of gender/ethnic solidarityin creativelycrossing class lines to positively affect Black pregnancyoutcomes.Theirmain objective is maternal mobilecommunitywomento re-create to exploit the empathyof upwardly of for the disadvantaged the urbancommunityand help thwartthe escalasupport "new" middle-class (Landry tion of poor pregnancy outcomes. Contemporary 1987) Black women believe that they possess a unique empathicmotivationand their ability to maintainties with poor and working-classwomen. Furthermore, bornfroma conscious,collective need to resistracistand strategyfor intervention, sexist oppression,is one passeddown for manygenerationsby theirBlack activist foremothers. This articlerevolves aroundtwo main tasks. First, it seeks to highlight sociologically cross-classmaternalsupportof urbanBlack women and to politicize the communitymotheringpracticesof those fromthe middleclass. My analysisof this

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traditionis guided by a theory-anddata-driven "normative framework, empathy," constructedas a way of interpreting middle-classBlack maternalist motivationsto maintaincross-class networksamong Black women in the 1980s and 1990s. The data were drawn via intensive interviews with volunteers from "The Birthing establishedto service the needs of young andpoor Black Project,"an organization mothers. Second, this article arguesthat the struggle of Black activist women to evoke a sense of cross-class gender/ethnicsolidarityin the provision of maternal of activismamongmiddle-classBlack supportstems froma long tradition maternal women. One featureof this traditionhas been the tailoringof activismto meet the needs of uniquehistoricalperiods.Today,the women of the BirthingProjectmust confront an epidemiological crisis of Black childbearingqualitativelydifferent from thatwhich embattledthe Black community50 years ago. The dislocationof urban Black women from one anotherhas reached unimaginablenew heights, resulting in an often difficult, frustratingstruggle for gender/ethnicsolidarity hereinfurther elaboratesa theory amongthe activistwomen. The researchreported of social support(Cramerand McDonald 1996) that helps to expose the often unforeseenand unanticipated political and practicalproblematicsof such support. More specifically, this articleexamines the contoursof maternalactivism among middle-class Black women, the ideological precedentfor this activism, and how the consciousness of social class differenceshapesthe middle-classBlack activist discourse and experience. NORMATIVE EMPATHY:FRAMING BLACK ACTIVIST MOTHERING Social psychologists have identifiedtwo basic types of social helping behavior differentiated the sourceof motivation.An actor,they contend,can be motivated by to empathichelping behaviorby a feeling for another'saffective experiences;a personal, emotional response is summoned by a sense of connectedness to the condition of anotherperson (Henderson1984; Wood 1994). The actor's empathy is apparentlynot necessarily thought to jeopardize the selflessness with which activismis carriedout and,therefore, is possible for activismto fulfill nonegoistic it and egoistic needs. An actorcan also be motivatedto normativehelping behavior by generalsocial norms-the moraland ethical principlesgeneratedby members of a communitywho sharea common social historyand vision for social development (MontadaandBierhoff 1991). This distinctionbetweentypes of activismand their motivation, however, fails to capture the unique and historically driven experiencesthathave fed the Black activistmotheringtradition. The analyses of Black women's maternalactivism conducted for this study a suggest thatnormativeempathy, synthesisof bothpersonalandsocial motivation, is a more appropriate framework analyzingthe communitymotheringpractices for of African Americanwomen. Black women's activist motivationsderive from a conjunctionof empathyfor otherBlack women who sufferor have sufferedsimilar

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social disadvantagesand of AfricanAmericannormsof solidarity,responsibility, That this moral obligation to enhance gender/ethnicsurvival and accountability. bases demonstrates that existing inherentlyhas egoistic as well as other-oriented theiractivismare too simplisticfor a full appreciation frameworksfor interpreting of this tradition. Scholarshipon Black women's social historyis laced with referencesto Black resourcesin the AfricanAmericancommuwomen as important intergenerational nity (Christian1985; Collins 1991; DuBois 1939; Giddings 1984; Gilkes 1989; Joseph and Lewis 1981; McDonald 1995; Rodgers-Rose1980; Sudarkasa1988). According to Giddings, educator and clubwoman Julia Cooper identified the special role of women's activism as "the fundamentalagency under God in the
regeneration ... of the race, as well as the groundwork and starting point of its

(1984, 81). Froma very young age, Black women arereportedly progressupward" socialized to yield to the call of responsibilityto "hold the Black community together"(Josephand Lewis 1981, 106) and preservethe race and gender. Centralto the sociological framingof Black women's communityactivism is a motivation.Black women'sgenderidentitieshelp distinguish uniquegender/ethnic their motivations for social activism from that of Black men; their community activism is driven by their shared,genderedexperienceof slavery and has develBlack oped primarilyout their motheringpractices (Jones 1990). Furthermore, from White women's motiwomen's motivationsfor activism are distinguishable vations. Their unique race/genderstatushas stronglyinfluencedhow they define family and communityand how they determinewhich political strategiesare best suited to meet the needs of Black women, their families, and the race as a whole (Gilkes 1988;Hine 1990;Morgen1988;MorgenandBookman1988;Naples 1991, 1992). This normof solidarityandcollective survivalthroughcommunitymotheras (Naples 1992) ing practiceshas been characterized Black "activistmothering" of a or community "othermothering,"' transplantation traditionalAfrican tribal principles(Peterson1992).Thecommunityworkof Blackwomen,like thatof other women of color, is a complex practiceof biological mothering,communityothermothering,and political activism (Naples 1992). Normativeempathyalso emphasizesthe significanceof social class in politicizing the task of Black women to serve theircommunity.It is frequentlynoted that middle-class status compounds Black women's sense of "social debt" to the and community(Higginbotham Weber1992, 430; McDonald 1995; Naples 1992). The "racesas families" analogy promotedby the "raceschool" of sociology for decades, and founded on the philosophies of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington(Dawson 1994), stronglyelevatesraceobligationsover those of class. Individual women of the middle class are said to be held "morally culpable" (Lawson 1992, 94) if they do not live up to the expectationthat successful Black women should help their less fortunate"sisters."Every woman's middle-class success story must also be a tale of how she fulfilled her moralobligationto uplift thanshe (Collins 1991; Dawson 1994). othersof the race less fortunate

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The analyses of Higginbotham(1993) and Boris (1993) speak instead to an intersectionof social class and Black activism thatproducesa varietyof maternal activist strategies operating at different levels of class and reflecting varying, class-based expressionsof normativeempathy.Normativeempathyappearsmore likely to find expression among the middle class as an obligation and duty to the disadvantaged; virtueof belief in theirsuperiormoralupbringing,middle-class by women would be inclinedto teach lower-classwomen to be more like themselves. Normativeempathyamongmiddle-classwomen serves not only as motivationfor social activism but also as a basis for critiquingthe motheringpractices of the disadvantaged. Far less attentionis paid to how class intersectswith the communitypractices of disadvantagedBlack women. Whereasit could be understoodthat their access to fewer materialresourceswould place restrictionson what poor Black women the offer as communityothermothers, historicalliterature suggests thattheirreverence for, and political commitment to, solidarity is no less than that of their In middle-class counterparts. contrastto that among the middle class, normative empathyamong the disadvantaged appearsmore likely to be formed from a view of all Black women and mothersas the source of uplift and to take the form of intraclasssocial support. In addition, the practice of normativeempathy is temporallysensitive to the conditions of Black women's lives. The form and contentof Black activist mothering have changed somewhat with the increasingpolarizationof Black social classes. As the problems suffered by the most disadvantagedwomen of the communityworsen, middle-classBlack activists step up their efforts to lift them activismstill operatingamong up, andperhapsin doing so overshadowthematernal the disadvantagedand focus a biased lens on the motheringpractices of poorer Black women. This studyseeks to understand motivationsof the BirthingProjectvolunteers the who are overwhelminglymiddleclass. No datawerecollected fromdisadvantaged populationsor aboutthem otherthanthose thatare offeredfrom the perspectiveof the middleclass and,therefore, particular this studydoes not speakto the experience of being the recipientof middle-classmaternal care. It demonstrates how strongly middle-class Black women cling to the legacy of their foremothers and to a middle-classdisplay of normativeempathy. THE BIRTHING PROJECT: RE-CREATING MATERNAL SUPPORT The research site for the observation of contemporary,middle-class Black maternalactivismwas "TheBirthingProject," volunteerorganization a foundedin Sacramento,California,in 1988. The Projectgrew out of a resurgenceof African Americanwomen activistgroupsaftertheirdecline andsuppressionaroundthe late 1940s (Giddings 1984), a decline that may have reflected the African American

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intelligentsia'sfailureto embracethe broadspectrumof racialuplift efforts in the Black community (Gaines 1996). A recent survey of 22 Black women leaders representing11 differentAfrican Americanvoluntaryassociationsrevealed that that todaytherearemanyformalandinformalBlack organizations claim to provide moderateor extensive supportto Black women (Dickerson1994). Foundedby Kathryn the Hall, a healthadministrator, BirthingProjectoffers the for AfricanAmericanwomenatriskof havingchildren opportunity youngpregnant of low birthweight and of infantmortalityto increasetheirchancesfor delivering healthy Black babies. It strives to re-create informal social support lacking or nonexistent for many young mothers and to do so in the spirit of their activist foremothers. EarlyBlackclubwomenwerewell-knownfor havingbeen instrumental in laying a Black communalinfrastructure "re-create intimacyof village to the life they left behind"(Mathews 1992, 192). In 1985, Hall became agitatedby the statisticaldatacirculatedwithin the state health office where she worked, which showed that the mortalityrate for Black infants (age one and younger) in Californiawas 16 per 1,000 births;the rate for Whites was 9 per 1,000. Parallelingthese statisticswere the relatedfigures on low birthweight, an equally disturbingphenomenon.Hall's experiencein state health made her keenly aware of the limitationsof maternalhealth and administration researchand policies in removing this peril from the African American family stateandfederaladministrators concludedthatthe problem community. Frequently, was related to the poor "viabilityof black genes"; therefore,nothing, they said, could be done to lessen the racialdisparity.Hall, who had herself lost a child that she believed could have been saved with propermedicalcare,was understandably infuriatedby this racist analysis, and she set out to warnthe Black communityof the widespreadadoptionof this perspectivein the healthcommunity.Little assisas tance could be expected from within the official maternalhealthinfrastructure; earlierreformershad put it, the Black communityhad to be told not to wait for the deliverers(Gordon1994). Hall explainsthatthe mission of the Projectis "tocatch a [Black]baby andpay witness to the birth."The Projectreestablishesa collective of witnesses to Black birthsto legitimatethe children'sexistence andto ensurethatelder women will be The thereto give them guidance.2 Projectrelies on the willingness of middle-class to to "sister-friends" offer intimate,informalsocial support underprivileged young Its expectantmothersduringtheirpregnanciesand for a year or more postpartum. founders were confident that the capacity of activist women-upwardly mobile soliwomen from poor and working-classbackgrounds-to restoregender/ethnic darity across class could assist underprivilegedyoung urban mothers and, in healthfaced by this population. reducethe severe risks to maternal particular, area to work Hall put out a call to "the 10 toughestsisters"in the Sacramento infantmortalityproblemfrom within the Black with her in combattingthe Black community.Eventually,nine women (and one man) formedthe originalfounding this for "sister-friends" "brother-friend") the Project.Together, groupdevised (and

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a plan to secure the futureof the Black family and Black culture.They sought to use the maternalgifts of Black women by exploiting the resourcesand resourcefulness of middle-classwomen who were bettersituatedsocioeconomicallyto tend to the maternalneeds of otherAfricanAmericanfamilies and who could relate to the social disadvantagesufferedin those families. As is true for most charismaticfounders of community organizations,Hall personifiesthe Project'sideals. Her word and tone arealmosttheological,resonating with that of many of her famous foremotherslike Mary ChurchTerrell,who once proclaimedthatBlack women's "peculiarstatusin this country"called them Hall's concernfor the witnessing of a to "the greatfirm of progressand reform."3 of child'sbirth,literallyandfigurativelyspeaking,is a concretedemonstration what childrenin the is a Black feminist "ethicof caring":"Nurturing Collins contends Black extendedfamily networksstimulatesa more generalizedethic of caringand women who often feel accountpersonalaccountabilityamongAfrican-American children"(1991, 129). able to all the Black community's It is familiar folk talk among African Americans that historically anyone witnessing a child's birth(i.e., eitherbeing attentiveto the motheraroundthe time of the pregnancy, physically presentat the birth,or involved in some way with the christening/blessing)assumedthe rightlaterin thatchild's life to intervenein any Hall explains. This included rightfullydisciway he or she felt was appropriate, the child when necessary,therebyshowing communitylove and concern. plining Community members of all social class backgroundsaccepted and desired this interventionand saw it as a naturalextension of the family. When there are no witnesses to a marriage,the union is not valid; when there are no witnesses to a baptism, one's salvation is not recognized by that church. Thus, Hall arguesby analogythatwhen the only onlookersto a Black baby's birth are its mother,an impersonalcounty hospitalstaff, and perhapsa social workeror Hall feels stronglythatby a prisonguard,thatchild's life goes largelyunattended. in the AfricanAmericancommunity,the muchneededmaternal re-creating support BirthingProjectreestablishesan interclasscollective of witnesses to Black births to legitimatethe children'sexistence and to ensurethat elder and more socioeconomically stable women will be availableto give them guidance. Prospective sister-friendsare introducedto the Project first through printed media,througha publicpresentation Hall,or throughwordof mouth.The formal by introduction madewhen the volunteerattendsone of the official trainingsessions is typically managedby the Project'schief administrator. Trainingsessions primarily are meant to instructthe volunteerto regularlyconvey the importanceof prenatal care to her "little sister,"4 suggest ways to assist tangibly in her prenatalcare, to such as providinghertransportation medicalappointments, to emphasizethe to and need for the volunteerto be readily availableto assist her little sister in any other to and way she could, such as providingherreferrals otheragenciesfor information support.In the extreme,the volunteeris told, one couldbe calleduponby the Project to intervene on the little sister's behalf should an authority'saction (e.g., social

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worker,judge, teacher) pose a potential threat to the healthy progress of the pregnancyor to the little sister's personaldevelopmentoverall. Duringthese sessions, volunteersarealso informedaboutways to minimizethe stress involved in befriendingthe little sisters. What the Projectcan reasonably such as not lending money, are accomplishand certainlimits on the relationships, explained in detail. These sessions were redesignedsomewhatin the early 1990s to accommodatethe volunteers'need to betterunderstand natureof the social the class tensions thatwere likely to emerge. The trainingsessions are not only useful for dispensingpracticalmaterialsand if information; they areoftenone of the few opportunities, not the only opportunity, to for the administration transmitthe overall mission of the Projectand its norms and values to the sister-friends.In some cases, however, volunteersbypass the trainingsession to help meet the overwhelming,immediateneed to service prowere spective little sisters.Still, the Projectestimatesthat 100 trainedsister-friends active each year,5probablyfewer in the first five years. Althoughthe Projectis most frequentlyreferredto as a mentoringprogram,its social service is betterunderstoodas one thatprovidesyoung mothersa personal confidante. The sister-friendsopt for a more meaningful, reciprocal, personal relationshipwith the little sistersthat,althoughultimatelyintendedto help ensure an uneventfulpregnancyand birth, is shaped by the unique personaland social circumstancesof both the young mothersandthe volunteers.In sum, this relationship is intendedto extend the kinship bonds and networksof both partiesand to politically empowerall membersof the community. The Birthing Project is but one component of a larger self-help effort by community women to supplementgovernmentagency programsor to provide addresses services nonexistentin Sacramento enterprise County.This multifaceted a wide range of social and political issues, revealing a Black feminist vision of welfare akin to Black women and otherwomen activistsof an earlierera (Gordon 1978;Jenkins1984;Lerner1974; 1994; Hamilton1978; HarleyandTerborg-Penn Neverdon-Morton1989; Townes 1993). Under the umbrella of the Center for CommunityHealth and Well-Being, Inc., are parallelprograms:"Imani,"which providessupportto women who engaged in or who are potentiallyat risk of child abuse and/orsubstanceabuse;the Economic DevelopmentProgram,which trains and employs women to provide in-home supportservices to families; and the healthcare.The whichoffersmaternal ServicesProgram, Perinatal Comprehensive BirthingProjectis acknowledgedas the heartand soul of the Center,and in 1993 it became BirthingProjectUSA with its program replicatedin 15 cities aroundthe Hall has been used by social service country.A programmodule producedby proagencies across the nation as well. Between 1988 and 1997, Project-related grams were established in 48 U.S. cities and 1 Canadiancity; thirty of these programsremainactive.

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DATACOLLECTION The primarydatacollection methodI used at the BirthingProjectwas intensive in interviewingof 19 of these sister-friends 1993. Each of these women served as a sister-friendone or more times since the organization'sinception; they were who selected from virtuallythe full populationof AfricanAmericansister-friends had ever served at the Project. Limited operatingfunds and personnelmade it difficult over the years for the small staff at the Projectto keep good, reliablerecordson each volunteer;age, level of education,occupational,marital,and maternalstatuswere not recordedconsisprofile of tently.Althoughit was impossibleto constructan accuratedemographic the sister-friends,I made a deliberate attempt to derive a study sample of 40 volunteersthat crosscut each of the sister-friendcohorts. Of the 90 women who about50 percentcould not be reachedbecause could be identifiedas sister-friends, of insufficientor missing contactinformation. who could be reached,ultimately19 respondedfavorably Of those sister-friends to the invitationandcompletedthe interview.Theyrangein age from 17 to 61. Four were married,5 divorced, 1 widowed, and 8 had never married.Only 2 had no college experience (one, a 17-year-oldhigh school student), 1 possessed a law degree, and anotherwas pursuinga doctorate.Nine of the women were employed in administrativestaff positions with the State of California, 3 were college students,1 was a postalworker,and5 otherswere clericalworkersor homemakers. Thirteen had biological children.With the exception of the four students, these women were either explicit or implicit in statingthat their social status had once Pam(age fortysomethbeen as precariousas manyof the little sisters.Sister-friend ing) summarizesthe latterpoint well: "Ican see myself in those women. They can feel that;they know that I can relateto what they're going through,because a lot of what they're going through,I have been there." An unstructured, open-endedinterviewguide was developed for this portionof the research,and the interviewslastedfor one to two hoursusually in the woman's have been changedto protecttheirprivacy.In home. The names of the respondents additionto the interviews,I took field notes periodicallyat the Projectfrom 1991 to 1994. I met with the organization's founderandchief office managerand visited the administrative office where a varietyof everydayProjectactivities are undertaken. A collection of numerouspublishedmaterialson the Projectsecured from sources on and off the site were also reviewed. Post-WorldWarII "Blackmiddle-class"women are generallydefined as those who work in white-collar occupations, who have higher-than-average levels of education,an annualincome equal or greaterthanthe median income for Whites (Dawson 1994; Feagin and Sikes 1994; Wilson 1980), a community reputation based on their socioeconomic achievement(Benjamin 1991), and a lifestyle that reflects theirrelativeeconomic andpoliticalpoweras communityleaders(Dawson

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in 1994). In light of this, I am comfortable classifyingeach of the sister-friends the sample as middle class. sourceswere consultedto help tracethe historyof middleSecondaryliterature activities.Black activistwomen of the late nineteenthand class Black maternalist earlytwentiethcenturiesformalizedtheiractivistroles in establishinga nationwide self-help agendato advanceandupliftBlack womanhoodandBlack families from and as racistand sexist subordination, to redefineBlack motherhood a political as well as a culturalstrategy(Boris 1993; Shaw 1991). Documentedevidence traces the formal expressions of Black maternalactivism-the Black Women's Club movement-to at least 1793, althoughits informalexpressionwas observedearlier among female slaves and free women.6 None of those interviewedat the BirthingProjectidentifiedthe organization as the to middle class; rather, Projectwas referred simply as a Black, Black women's, or Black (or AfricanAmerican)communityorganization. Noteworthy,though, is the founders and those since recruitedwere from the new crop of the fact that middle-classAfricanAmericansand sharemanyof the same social characteristics as the Black clubwomen who preceded them and also engaged in maternalist activities.

THE LEGACY OF NORMATIVE EMPATHYAT THE BIRTHING PROJECT haveapassion interest theAfrican and in American and founder I]both [TheProject's the the women,the strength, ties thatbindinvolvement, community, particularly and ... we burden, responsibility takeandshare forourselves forourkids,no matter all to whogavebirth them. They're ours.
sister-friendLoretta Motivations

Black maternal activism in the present day is ideologically grounded in a Blackwomen(Christian tradition begunby free,slave, andlaternewly emancipated Collins 1991;MartinandMartin1985; Sudarkasa 1988). Half a centuryago, 1985; Black clubwomenwere challengedby the devastating povertyandpervasivehealth as thatplaguedthe Black communityafterReconstruction its population problems became more physically mobile and scatteredbetween the North and the South (Jones 1985). In recentdecades,the urbandislocationof manyAfricanAmericans from middle-classsupporthas intensified.As Pam, a sister-friend, notes, "Before, we had the extended families. And with the moving around-people moving around-we don't have the extendedfamilies anymore." A sense of gender/ethnicconsciousness that once fueled widespreadpolitical and social cooperationand supportamong Blacks has been largely supplantedby individualism, mistrust, and competition as strategies for survival in the cities

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(Anderson 1990). The breedingof these alternativestrategieshas paralleledthe increasingdisparityof urbansocial resourcesand life chances. Governmentintervention for poor inner-cityBlacks has been implicated,althoughpoorly supported to of empirically,as a contributor the undermining normativeempathyin the Black community(Martinand Martin1985). urbanAmerica,middle-class In responseto the harshrealitiesof contemporary Black activistwomen like those at the BirthingProjecthave steppedup theirefforts to preserve the race and ensure healthy,productivelives for Black mothers and childrenof all social classes (Dickerson 1994). Speakingon behalf of herself and other founding sister-friendsat the BirthingProject,Loretta-a 38-year-oldstate worker who provided one of the most detailed interviews in the collectiondescribes the motivational rationale for joining in the re-creation of maternal support, highlighting the obligation of the Project to revitalize the community of structure female extendedkin: on Whatwe wanted do thenwas to havesomedemonstrable to impact thelives of in of and theseyoungpeople terms howwe wereraised howwe grewup.Weallcame
from varying backgrounds. . . but there were certain commonalities within that,

our our in for our history, respect Black particularly pride ourselves, tieswithAfrican we for certain things felttheseyoungpeoplewerelosing.It adults, key family, other of was transferred Theydidn'thavethe advantages sittingat grandmother's right. and to thesethings transferred themorally to or kneeortalking theirmothers having in termsof howtheyweretoldto conduct theirlives because parentage wasn't just did families; justweren't they goingonthewayit normally in Black staying together. to this that holdof ouryoung So we reallywanted disrupt new pattern was taking to thosetraditional values wereso important that people... wewanted tryandreinstill to us andto oursuccessandthatwe felt wasa keyto thesuccessof anyperson, but in African American youngwomen particular.

Like most of the othersister-friends, Sylvia, age 48, believedthatofferingherself as a living example of success and self-actualization attaineddespite the odds was invaluable to the little sisters. "Role modeling," she explains, impartspower to disenfranchisedyoung mothersand is significantto fulfilling one's middle-class obligationto help uplift them to safer ground. of The sister-friends this studyfurnishampleevidence of a recyclingof feminist supportamongfemale family membersgenerallyin times of crisis. Moreover,they believe thattheirProjectactivitiesarereminiscentof the type of maternal carethey had once received fromtheirown mothersandothermothers. Theirdesireto oblige the traditionof othermothering, give somethingbackto the communitynow that to were upwardlymobile, often stems back to a particular, they significant act of caring. For example, Charlie,a 37-year-oldstate worker,spoke of her admiration for her "strong mother,"a woman who transmittedthe objectives of activist mothering through her courage and persistence in raising eight well-educated childrenon very few material resources:"Ijust thoughtthatI hadlearneda lot from my motherin termsof survival,in termsof values andrewardsandall of that,[that] I could share."Joyce and Janice had similarrecollections.Joyce is a 22-year-old

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college student, and Janet is a divorced mother and grandmother employed with the state: Joyce: Just looking back at all the help I got [from my motherand others] when I was pregnant... I thoughtthatsomebodyelse might need the same type of supportthat I had. I was willing, you know. Janice: My motheris my role model; my motheris a good role model ... we're best friends so I've never had a problem. I've always had a good support system throughoutmy whole life. Activist mothering at the Birthing Project is also fueled by personal histories of racist and/or sexist oppression that the volunteers use to help make the initial connection with their little sisters. The concrete experiences of confronting racist and sexist individuals and institutions inform the sister-friends' views about the need for strong maternal guidance of young Black women. Tales of the moments when Black womanhood was challenged, undermined, and distorted were recalled by the sister-friends. The dialectical relationship of oppression and activism reflected in such tales were occasionally offered as a partial cause for choosing the Birthing Project as an avenue for educating young mothers about the need to demand respect for themselves and their families. For example, Doris, a 43-year-old divorced mother, had this tale to offer: whenI do workshops,I say,"Youknow,brothers, [I'll tell you] whatI said to brothers only problemI have is you cannotadoptthe rulesof the slave masterwhen you have and been partof the game. How can you inflict on me the same sets of standards rules that he inflicted on me and his women when you are not partof the system. He has so little respect and regardfor you, how can you turn aroundand be a part of his group?And you know you're not of his group."And they say to me, "Cause [you] had and can't do this, and you women need to know your place."And I say, "What place? Whatplace?What is my place? How dareyou!" Karen's story is equally powerful in pointing to the significance to her of sisterly intervention made by a non-Black political ally. Karen is a 61-year-old public servant seeking a doctorate in theology: I went to [thelocal communitycollege] fourtimesbeforethey wouldtakeme because I didn't have enough education.They said, "Oh,you'd never make it nursing."... said thatshe couldn'ttake me becauseI had five childrenand I didn't [The registrar] have anybodyto help me with themandI would miss too manydays out of school.... So I went and told my neighbor(Miss Trula)who was a white lady [and] she said, "Whydon't you tell her she [a] prejudiceSOB andget it over with."And I said, "It's late andshejust didn'thave roomfor me."She said,"Watch smoke."... So [later] my I went back in and told [the admissionsofficer], I said, "Youjust took my neighbor and you told me thatyou didn'thave any space."She said, "Iforgotyou were on the ... waiting list, Karen."I said, "It'sobvious thatyou don't wantme in the program." She said, "You?You couldn'tbe no RN... I tell you what.If you can get your books

/ ACTIVIST MOTHERING 785 McDonald BLACK

I I'll and andyouruniform get in hereby Monday takeyou."I didn'thavea penny. and So over withher(MissTrula). I wasdignified I toldMissTrula hadridden there me andshebought uniform, my my bought a watch, bought books,andshesaid,"Go tell heryou'llbe ready." Testimoniesof success and supportlike this form the crux of the sister-friend componentof the BirthingProjectin thatthey portrayhope in a world potentially debilitatingfor young expectantmotherswho will undoubtedlymeet with similar are to situations.They confirmthatthe sister-friends determined see thatthe young Black women they seek to supportwill also be successfuldespitetheiradversaries. Potentially,these stories are what draw young mothers to the Project and what facilitatetrustbetween the two partiesof the maternal friendship.
Education as a Primary Goal

In additionto highly valuingcross-classgender/ethnic solidarity,puttingBlack calls "assimimothersin contactwith educationalinstitutions(whatHigginbotham has always been related to "a very pragmatic lating apparatuses"[1993, 28]) concern [amongactivist women] aboutthe relationshipamong training,the purity of the home, and economic survival"(Giddings,1984, 101). About one-halfof the volunteerwomen interviewedfor this study made some mention of their concern for, or assistance with, their little sister's education. Julie, a forty-something divorced mother of two adult children, said that the biggest concern for her 16-year-oldlittle sister was getting her back in school after having droppedout. Charliewould frequently"go over and help the kids [of one little sister] with their readinglessons" and made a point of "exposing"anotherlittle sister to things that would help her "be awareof how intelligentshe is and realize that she has a lot to offer."Joyce was adamantabouther little sister's rightto a good education: howthecounselors are Shetalked about about goingto collegeandshewastalking at school,howtheydon'tencourage Blacksto go schoolor to takecollegeprep the coursesor anything that.AndI toldherto demand, like makesureyou areputin if because you'renot,thenyouwillnotgetintocollege. collegeprepcourses The sister-friends strive to convince their little sisters that obtaining a good educationis extremelyvaluableto theirfuturewelfareandthatof theirbabies;they often have a difficult time pointing out the impedimentsto educationalprogress and self-improvement. Whereastheir educationalbackgrounds doubt made the sister-friendsgood no role models, it was not clear from the interviewshow much the little sisters knew aboutthe volunteers'educationalaccomplishments; was not a subjectsystemithis the cally coveredin the interview.Nonetheless,like theirforemothers, middle-class women of the BirthingProjectsee educationaladvancement the key vehicle for as helping young Black urbanmothersavoid the abyss of inner-citylife.

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The Issue of Social Class

I've I've hadmy carvandalized. beencalledoutof my name[spoken vulgarly]. to Thesearenotmy people.I've neverbeenafraid my people, I'm intimidated of but withthepeoplewhoareoverherewiththeir "low-class") gang(implying mentality. I wantto say,"You don'tknowhow muchI love Blackpeople." Theydon'tcare because don'thavea senseof community. they
sister-friendCharlie

Workingto transcendsocial differencesis the proudcenterpieceof traditional Black women's community activism. Early clubwomen fervently promotedthe principleof mutualrespectfor all Black women who, regardlessof the quality of were equally deservingof the opportunityto their personaland social attributes, move forward(Boris 1993;Higginbotham 1993).Accordingto Giddings,"Inmany and instances,the lessons of theirown lives hadtaughtthemthatit was opportunity environment-not circumstancesof birthor previousexperience-that separated them fromthe masses"(1984, 98). Even as they soughtto maintaina gender/ethnic solidarityacross class, however,many believed that the "moralrecovery"(Boris 1993, 226) of disadvantagedBlack women from their social condition was the primarysubstanceof Black maternalactivism. Similarly, while normativeempathy and middle-class obligation provide the political motivationfor combatingoppressivesocial forces that have contributed urbancrisis, they also frequentlycall upon the middle-class to the contemporary to take a moral standagainstwhat they see as self-defeatingvalues sister-friends and behaviorsexhibitedby some membersof the little sisters.Theirwillingness to condemn personal irresponsibilityamong the young mothers has added to the tension between the parties, as has been the case among classes of African activists Americansin the communityat large(Lawson 1992). Hence, the maternal effects of the increasingsocial at the Projectare not immuneto the interpersonal dislocation of many young Black mothersin the innercity, and their testimonies help to illustratethe complex ways in which the activistsstruggleto maintaintheir commitmentto racialuplift in the midst of a deepeningclass schism in the Black community. Extensive communityand family involvementis common among Black middle-class women, who typically view this as partof a strategyfor maintaininga certaindetachmentfrom the demandsof theirprofessionsand a strongattachment to the Black communityandits interests(Gilkes 1983). Nevertheless,the busyness to of this middle-class lifestyle is a majorcontributor a heightenedawarenessof difference between the women. Vanessa,a 39-year-olduniversityemployee, explained that she simply could not preserveenough energy to give to yet another personat the end of the day: care 40 It wastoo muchforme to be goingto school,to be working hours, [taking] to . of my mom,andtrying dealwith"thesmoker." .Until I coulddroptwo of the itemsthatI had,I justcalledit quits.

/ ACTIVIST MOTHERING 787 McDonald BLACK

Although she clearly recognized the potential negative consequences of an overburdenedcommunity life, Charlie failed to adequatelyprotect herself from extremeemotionaland physical burnout.Factoringin otherissues, like the time it took to commute to and from home and to paid and unpaidwork sites, was also a challenge for several of the sister-friends.Janice, for instance, commuted about to threeto fourhoursround-trip workevery day,which madeit virtuallyimpossible to see her little sister duringthe week or to attendany of the groupfunctionsheld at the Project. In sum, time constraintsposed by the multiple career and social appearto have createdat least some obligationsof these middle-classsister-friends of the reportedtension betweenthe women and may have resultedin lost opportunote is the fact that nities to bridgesocial differenceswithinthe dyad.Of particular were able to be presentwhen theirlittle said thatthey only five of the sister-friends sisters gave birth. According to the sister-friends,tension was also a consequence of the little sisters' perceptionsof at least some of them as different,presumablybecause of theirinexperiencewith living on "thestreet"andof theirbeing materiallywell-off. Rachel (a 26-year-oldwidow), for instance,foundthatshe hadto convince herlittle "Youdon'tknow,I come fromthe samebackground sisterthatshe was not a "snob": It'sjust I got out of it; I was one of the lucky ones." [as you do]. as Some of the little sisters thoughtit was "strange," Doris puts it, thatmiddleclass women would go to such lengths to help them and not expect anything they didn'tknow whetherthey shouldfully trustthe volunteers materiallyin return; Doris'own little or whetherthey themselvescouldever be seen as fully trustworthy. sister once said to her,"Youknow,you don't have to do this. Nobody's payingyou to do this." The little sisters generally believed the volunteers were naive about how disadvantaged young women like themselvesadaptto theiroppressionby learning to exploit social relationships.Pam, whose administrative position at the Project made her privy to the perceptionsof both parties, thought the young mothers' opinions on this matterwere well-founded: I think[it's]whatyou call a socioeconomic makesa difference. [that] background all ... Peoplewhohavebeensheltered theirlives,whatyoucall"dogooders" want to do thingsfor people,buttheydon'tunderstand is goingon in the life of a what and womanwho has hadto struggle maybehadto do thingsthatwereillegalor but immoral, they had to do themto survive.People wouldn'tbe expectedto that. understand Limited knowledge of these survivalskills may have been the basis of complaints by some of the volunteers about their little sisters' needs being too great. The seriousness of the young mothers' problems was in many instances severely underestimated: Beatrice I (25-year-old collegestudent): wentinto[this]notknowing, know,how you
needy she was or whatit was thatshe needed.And come to find out she's very needy,

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andI don'tknowthatI'vebeenthere everywaythatI couldhavebeenforher,but in I didwhatI could. The that postalworker): reason it didn'tworkoutforme withher Phyllis(44-year-old too wasI feltshewastoodependent, needy. wanted almost a financier She me as and in on ... she wasmoredependent me thatI wanted ourrelationship therewerejust to that wantto get involved somethings seemed be goingon thatI justdidn't with. Volunteers expressed that they grew weary of what they characterizedas deceitful, "streetwise" ways in which some young motherssought sympathyand Pam impliedthatthe tools of such decepmaterialgoods from theirsister-friends. and each time it yields on tion aresharpened "thestreet," the behavioris reinforced the rewards the young mothers seek. As Anderson's research reveals, "street wisdom is largely a state of mind"developed and refined as one negotiates the uncertaintyof urbanlife (1990, 5); to be "streetwise"is to understand"how to behave"in uncertainsocial spaces (6). His analysissuggests thatthe sister-friends who were confrontedwith unanticipated expectationsshould not expect thattheir show of committedfriendshipand sisterhoodwill eliminate the young mother's feelings of mistrustnor preclude the mother from employing tools of deceit to maximize the benefits she could receive fromthe maternalsupportrelationship. with alleged deceit and manipulationis the Closely relatedto their frustration The volunteers sister-friends'displeasurewith the young mothers'opportunism. frequentlyaboutthe tendencyof the young mothersto "takeas much as they spoke could"while the getting was good. Because the little sistershave so few resources of theirown and because they know so little abouthow to obtainthose resources, for they at times lean heavily on theirsister-friends things they trulyneed as well do as for things the sister-friends not believe are necessary.At one point, Vanessa clearly felt thather little sister had gone over the line when, afterthe sister-friend agreedto take the mothershoppingfor babyclothes, the mothersuggestedthatthe next time they shouldincludeher biological sisterandtravelto anothercity where the "shopsare better." and Displeasureaboutthe little sisters'materialism opportunism-particularly when it was overt-eventually turnedinto resentmentin some instances. Their about the young behaviorfostered negative impressionsamong the sister-friends mothers' sincerity in developing a meaningful,quality supportsystem based on dilemmais a good more thanmaterialgain. Loretta'sassessmentof this particular kinds of negative sentimentsexpressed: summaryof the that She [T]heyoungladyI gotwasa realopportunist. camein thinking she'dgetin and and thisproject I wouldbe hertaxiandI wouldbe herbenefactor I wouldtake for herout anddo all thisstufffor her.And,boy,it was a realeye-opener herthat streetwise on had not that's howI sawmyrole.Wereally towork that... [sheis]really she So and,likeI said,a survivor. shewasgoingto takewhatever advantage possibly of could,whichmostof us-the brighter us-will do anyway.... [Mylittlesister] She Well, was veryclever-a bright period. hadthe younglady,potentially. bright habits and other time but so forlearning much, so much hadpassed so many potential kindof settled. [had]

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Willfully embeddingoneself within the social supportnetworkof a disadvantaged urbanmothernecessarilyinvolves subjectingoneself to the fierceness of the "streets"where the young woman lives. There were occasions when the sisterfriend made involuntary, direct contact with the violence and hostility frequently associatedwith lower-class,urbanexistence.On suchoccasions,befriendingacross social class posed real threatsto personalsecurity,and this in turnrestrictedthe sister-friends'ability to rendermaternalsupport.In Vanessa'scase, the threatto as personalsafety came from the little sister's husbandwho Vanessacharacterized "very,very militant,"extremelyprotective,and suspicious of the relationshiphis wife had with the new stranger:
I just felt like he would just as soon cut my throat... you'd walk up and knock on the door and they'd both kind of look at me. It was like [he'd say], "No, you cannot go anywherewithout[me]." So we'd stay there.

Vanessa'sfear was not simply of a possessive husband'shostility-domineering, hostile husbandsexist at all levels of social class-but of the fact thathis hostility seemed to reflect the mood of "a lot" of otherpeople who would be at the house when she would come for the young mother.Charlie also felt uneasy about the groups of men she would have to wade throughwhen she went to visit her little sister; the residents were openly resentfulof her because they perceived that she was "successful." Of all the menacing situationsidentified by the sister-friends,stumbling into illegal drug activity and the violence surroundingit was the most frequently mentioned. Few of the young mothers connected with the sister-friendswere untouched by the proliferatingdrug culture and drug economy in the city. In retrospect,some volunteers seemed to feel that they should all have been more fearful aboutenteringinto theirbefriendingcontractsgiven what knowledge they did have aboutdrugabuseandtrafficking amongthe Project'sconstituentsandtheir families. Their obligation to befriend across class thrustthem into a world far differentthanmost of them had known:
Loretta:Many times I went to visit and walked in and didn't realizethatsome of the activity (drugdealing and gun toting) was going on. And I've hearda lot of things. I probablyputmyself atriska numberof times of being shot anddidn'tknow it. I found out only later ... a lot of us ended up, I think, in real precarioussituations that normallywe would not have been in... whatI did find was thatmost people weren't really-in their minds-prepared for the kinds of young women that we were or getting-the people who reallyneededourservices,orneededourattention, needed our time or energy-[who] are most at risk. Collette (49-year-old state criminaljustice employee): My biggest concern was her being in thattype of environmentandI just wantedto take her out of it... I'm trying to figure out how I can get her [to live in my duplex] with me. So I just prayedabout it and prayedabout it, and it just wasn't to be. So I just had to let it go andjust call and check on her.

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Among numerousothermisfortunes,the pervasivenessof the urbandrugproblem has waged a vicious assaulton the lives of young Black mothersand on those who to wantthe opportunity befriendthemon theirown turf.As Collins(1991) explains, in of and the entire communitystructure bloodmothers othermothers many innerhas been eroded by the infiltrationof illegal drugs alongside city neighborhoods virtuallyevery otheraspectof AfricanAmericancommunitylife. The fulfillment of the promise of Black activist motheringand the normative empathythatmotivatesit is evidencedby the successfulplacementof middle-class women volunteerswithin the maternalsupportnetworksof disadvantaged young mothersat the BirthingProject.Sister-friends engage in a wide rangeof maternal care activitiesthatpromotestrongpossibilitiesfor good physicalandpsychosocial healthand social mobilityfor the young mothers,theirchildren,and theirfamilies and great emotional satisfactionfor the volunteers.Of the 19 sister-friendswho took part in this study, all were sure that at least one word of advice, one act of assistancewith prenatalcare, or a single provisionof some much needed material good had helped to betterpreparetheir young motherfor a healthy delivery and firstyear of mothering.The Projectboaststhatonly one infantdeathto a little sister has occurredin the Project'shistory.Exceptfor notingthe qualityof infants'health at birth,no consistent,official follow-up on the little sisters was conductedat the reportedthat they had maintained Project,but about one-half of the sister-friends contactwith the mothersandtheirchildrenone to five yearsor moreafterdelivery. In these cases, both mother and children appearedto highly value the maternal to the relationshipand to have incorporated sister-friends some degree into their familialnetwork.The Project'sevaluationis thatit is highly likely thata long-term, positive effect was made in the lives of these families. Yet, even as maternalneeds and race/gender/classobligations appear to be successfully met in a good many instances, there are obvious threats to the continuedsuccess of befriendingacross class. The reportsfrom four of the sisterthanwith satisfacfriendswere more heavily laced with negativityand frustration tion, and only one sister-friendappearedto be completely satisfied with the befriendingexperienceshe had. Like Charlie,whose exasperationaboutthe detethis rioratingconditionsof the urbanpooris heardthroughout analysis,manyhave grown weary of the growing, inescapableviolence and hostility of the city. Drugs to andotherrelatedurbanmenacescontribute the wideninggapbetweensocial class groups in the Black community, a schism based both on real and perceived observationsof difference.

CONCLUSION of This study sought to broadenan understanding the tradition,nature, and of social class among Black, maternalactivist women by employing significance of the notion of normativeempathy.The sister-friends the BirthingProjectsharea urbanmothersand their children concern for the plight of young, disadvantaged

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with their foremothers-the Black clubwomen of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries-who were equally conscious of the fact that their relative themfromthe massesof Black womenandobligatedthem social progressseparated to play a significantrole in relieving the strainon Black urbanmothers'lives. In moderntimes, however, the social dislocationof middle-classwomen from lower-class women has sharplyincreased,and the qualityof life among the urban The effort to "uplift"the race has mothershas rapidlydeteriorated. "underclass" been undermined by an increasing divergence of experiences, resources, and interestsin the Black communityalong class lines. This divergenceis realizedfor today's Black maternalactivists, like the sister-friendsat the BirthingProject,in the "burnout" they sufferin tryingto meet the demandsof upwardlymobile work, and community life; in the differentiated"streetwisdom" exhibited by family, lower-class versus middle-class Black women that fosters resentmentbetween and in them aroundissues of materialism, opportunism, trust;and,most important, their fear of, and frustration and drug-related crime that is too often with, drugs associated with urban Black existence. Although firsthand observation of the historicaldocumentsgeneratedby Black clubwomenis necessaryfor conclusiveness on thispoint,cross-classexperiencesto maintaingender/ethnic such solidarity, as those attemptedthroughthe BirthingProject,seem much more difficult today thanthey were for early Black clubwomen. In effect, the sister-friends' expressionsof disillusionmentaboutthe delivery of cross-class support make a strong critique of the lower class and their lack of reverencefor Black motherhoodandfor cross-classmaternal cooperation.Reports of little sisters "too needy"for the level of supportthe volunteerswere willing to give appearto be an indictmentof the mothersand not, perhaps,of the volunteers' unrealisticexpectations.Thevolunteers'upward seems mobilityfromdisadvantage to be insignificantin the developmentof a close sisterhoodwith young mothers who encounter them now as the "other"class of Black women. Furthermore, intraclass helpingto empowerthe young mothersthroughassistancewith arranging and supportwas never mentioned;preoccupationon the part of the cooperation volunteerswith lifting themup divertedattentionfromthe possibilitiesfor empowering the young mothersto collectively charttheirown course for success through intraclasscooperation.Together,these observationssuggest thatnormativeempamiddle-classBlack women might be no more effective thy among contemporary in alleviatingthe problemsof the underclassthanthe benevolenceof well-meaning middle-classWhite women. Systematicstudyof the sister-friends' practicesover a longer periodof time would providefor a more complete analysis of the Project's successes and failures. Such a researcheffort would be greatlyenhancedby data from the lower-classyoung women for whom these practicesare intendedon their views of normativeempathyand their perceptionsand experiences with middleclass maternalactivism. maternalactivists are willing to accept Nonetheless, the fact thatcontemporary the difficult challenge of offeringsupportto underprivileged urbanmothersunder these conditions calls into question the claim that self-interested middle-class

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Blacks have retreated from the inner city. The mere existence of the Birthing Project demonstrates that the analysis of Black middle-class flight fails to recognize that many members of the middle class are attempting to transcend the social class gap. The work and experience of Project women strongly suggests that whereas class consciousness may be strong among Black women, gender/ethnic solidarity also remains strong. I have proposed that activist mothering of this sort is best explained by a strong sense of normative empathy that historically has been shared among Black women, particularly those of relative privilege. Their consciousness and experiences as Black women bind them to one another, and their privileged status as upwardly mobile women compounds their sense of obligation to the disadvantaged. Thus, this study reemphasizes the significance of race, gender, and class in the socialization and political interaction of urban Black women. Finally, I believe that the evidence of class tension supports a view of cross-class social support that deromanticizes support relationships and exposes the often unforeseen realities of providing support under difficult social conditions (Cramer and McDonald 1996). Social support providers are frequently subject to inflated expectations and may suffer emotionally when support arrangements fail to produce the results intended. In the case of the Birthing Project sister-friends, for instance, the expectations were sometimes inflated by the ideals of gender/ethnic solidarity and Black activist mothering. Therefore, I am committed to further research that helps determine the extent to which continued and increased urban social class tension threatens the survival of normative empathy and Black maternal activism as traditional, gender/ethnic-specific tools of community resistance and self-preservation.

NOTES
as 1. In citing Troester(1984) andCollins (1987), James(1993) defines "othermothers" "thosewho assist blood mothersin the responsibilitiesof child care.... They can be, but are not confined to, such blood relativesas grandmothers, sisters,aunts,cousins or supportivefictive kin." 2. The Project originally discouragedcross-culturalmatches, specifically the placing of White volunteers with Black young mothers. Recently, it has expandedto incorporatethe needs of young mothers of other ethnicities, but the focus remains on recruitingand training African American of sister-friendsand on the preservation Black life and tradition. addressto the NationalAssociationof Colored 3. Fromunpublished speech(1897). Firstpresidential in Women;reprinted Jones (1990), 133-38. 4. "Littlesisters" are the Project'sclients; the use of the title "clients"is discouragedbecause it unduly stresses a hierarchicalrelationship.In actuality,"littlesisters"range in age from 14 to 44, but the title is used most often in referringto those youngerthan 30. have been trainednationwide. 5. To date, the Projectestimatesthatabout3,000 sister-friends 6. By WorldWarI, the NationalAssociationof ColoredWomen(NACW)-the productof a club of and merger-had grownto 50,000 membersin 28 federations morethan 1,000 clubs;hundreds other clubwomenwere membersof clubs thatdid notjoin the NACW.It is highly probablethatbecause so much of the publishedscholarshipon the Black Women'sClub movementhas been narrowlyfocused

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on the creationof the most formaland nationallyorientedfederationsof clubwomen,thereis a biased view of the movementas being one purelydevelopedanddirectedby the middleclass. Generally,where the middle-class activist women organizedclubs (the least prevalentand most secular form of Black the mutualaid programsand women's organization), working-classwomen were morelikely to arrange within churchorganizations(Gordon1994; Scott 1990). the poor women were highly concentrated

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Katrina Bell McDonald (Ph.D., Universityof California-Davis) is an assistant professor of Her researchinterestsinclude race, class, and gender; sociology at Johns Hopkins University. psychological stress; Black maternalhealth;and maternalsupportsystems.