Motherhood So White, Nefertiti Austin
Motherhood So White, Nefertiti Austin
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Motherhood So White
A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America

Author: Nefertiti Austin

Narrator: Allyson Johnson

Unabridged: 6 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/24/2019


Synopsis

In America, Mother = White

That's what Nefertiti, a single African American woman, discovered when she decided she wanted to adopt a black baby boy out of the foster care system. Eager to finally join the motherhood ranks, Nefertiti was shocked when people started asking her why she wanted to adopt a "crack baby" or said that she would never be able to raise a black son on her own. She realized that American society saw motherhood through a white lens, and that there would be no easy understanding or acceptance of the kind of family she hoped to build.

Motherhood So White is the story of Nefertiti's fight to create the family she always knew she was meant to have and the story of motherhood that all American families need now. In this unflinching account of her parenting journey, Nefertiti examines the history of adoption in the African American community, faces off against stereotypes of single, black motherhood, and confronts the reality of raising children of color in racially charged, modern-day America.

Honest, vulnerable, and uplifting, Motherhood So White reveals what Nefertiti knew all along—that the only requirement for a successful family is one raised with love.

About Nefertiti Austin

Nefertiti Austin, an author and memoirist, writes about the erasure of diverse voices in motherhood. Her work around this topic has been short-listed for literary awards and appeared in a number of media outlets, including the Huffington Post, Essence.com, Mutha and Adoptive Families magazines, PBS SoCal's "To Foster Change", and PBS Parents. Nefertiti's expertise stems from firsthand experience and degrees in U.S. history and African American studies. Nefertiti is a former Certified PS-MAPP Trainer, where she co-led classes for participants wanting to attain a license to foster and/or adopt children from the foster care system. An alumna of Breadloaf Writers' Conference and VONA, her first two novels, Eternity and Abandon, helped usher in the black romance genre in the mid-1990s.


Reviews

Goodreads review by LaToya

I received a DIGITAL ADVANCE READER’S COPY of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I recently read a tweet that identified white privilege as everyone learning to empathize and cater to whiteness. Unfortunately, we live in a society that does just that; we teach people to empath......more

Goodreads review by Andre

A book that will be a useful resource for Black women considering adoption........ Wasn’t it Toni Morrison who said, “if you can’t find the book you want to read, it’s your responsibility to write it.” Well that is exactly what Nefertiti Austin has done. Wanting to be a mother, Nefertiti found scant......more

This book is rife with respectability politics. The writer makes sweeping (inaccurate) generalizations about Black people as a whole while asserting herself as the authoritative spokesperson for an entire people. Her tone and opinions throughout the book reveal that she has a very low opinion of bla......more