Killing the Black Body, Dorothy Roberts
Killing the Black Body, Dorothy Roberts
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Killing the Black Body
Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

Author: Dorothy Roberts

Narrator: Shayna Small

Unabridged: 14 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/13/2020

Synopsis

This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years--using a black feminist lens and the issue of  the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on black women's--especially poor black women's--control over their bodies' autonomy and their freedom to bear and raise children with respect and dignity in a society whose white mainstream is determined to demonize, even criminalize their lives.   It gives its readers a cogent  legal and historical argument for a radically new , and socially transformative, definition of  "liberty" and "equality" for the American polity from a black feminist perspective.

About Dorothy Roberts

Dorothy Robert is the fourteenth Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the inaugural Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights. She is the author of the award-winning Killing the Black Body and Shattered Bonds and is the co-editor of six books on gender and constitutional law. She serves as chair of the board of directors of the Black Women's Health Imperative.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alok

While birth control has undoubtedly had a profound and positive impact, it’s also important to acknowledge its eugenic origins in the US. We can hold both at the same time. In her influential work, Black feminist legal scholar Dr. Dorothy Roberts exposes how movements for contraception in the early......more

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf

ENGLISH Selective perception of history and its denial leads to a continuation of the abuses in new forms. As if the past horrors were not enough. The unrecovered and hushed up crimes of the past which are combined with a lack of reparations. Historical revisionism is one thing. But further suppressi......more

Goodreads review by Thomas

A powerful and comprehensive book about the misogynoir and classism faced by Black women throughout the history of the United States in regard to their bodily autonomy. Killing the Black Body covers several topics related to Black women’s health, including the forced sterilization of Black women ami......more

Goodreads review by Greta

When I first read this book it was sophomore year of College, and it was assigned for one of the most enlightening courses offered - Prisons, Punishment, and Democracy. Recently I wanted to revisit the horrible truths revealed/explored in the texts assigned in the course. "Killing The Black Body" is......more

Goodreads review by Dan

simialar to The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, this book uses the existing racial caste system and social dynamics of poverty to look at reproductive questions - both abortion as well as ivf and other fertility treatments. the author does a fantastic job with that. th......more

Quotes

“Monumental. . . . An important contribution to the literature of civil rights, reproductive issues, racism and feminism.” —San Francisco Chronicle

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

“Brilliant, controversial, and profoundly valuable. . . . An important stepping-stone toward transforming the way black women and their children are treated in America.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Chilling. . . . It becomes difficult to reject the author’s thesis. . . that there is a sustained, and in some quarters deliberate, campaign to punish Black women—especially the poor—for having children.” —The National Law Journal

“An important and riveting book that skillfully and compellingly explains contemporary challenges to reproductive freedom.” —Patricia Hill Collins, author of Black Feminist Thought

“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

“A leading-edge critique of reproductive racism . . . In this current era, we discover the foresight and absolute necessity of Roberts’s approach.” —Angela Davis

“Race in America cannot be fully understood without reading this compelling investigation. . . . Timely, insightful and unforgettable.” —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy
 
“A seminal work. . . .  Indispensable. . . . Prescient. . . . Even more urgent and more pertinent than it was twenty years ago.” —Harriet Washington, author of Medical Apartheid
 
“A work of stunning erudition and finely calibrated moral concern. . . . Urgent, evocative and indispensable.” —William Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope

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