Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines

by Mai'a Williams

An anthology that gives access to the voices of mothers of color and marginalized mothers Revolutionary Love on the Frontlines is an anthology that centers mothers of color and marginalized mothers' voices—women who are in a world of necessary transformation. The challenges faced by movements working for antiviolence, anti-imperialist, and queer liberation, as well as racial, economic, reproductive, gender, and food justice are the same challenges that marginalized mothers face every day. Motivated to create spaces for this discourse because of the authors' passionate belief in the power of a radical conversation about mothering, they have become the go-to people for cutting-edge inspired work on this topic for an overlapping committed audience of activists, scholars, and writers. Revolutionary Mothering is a movement-shifting anthology committed to birthing new worlds, full of faith and hope for what we can raise up together. Contributors include alba onofrio, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Ariel Gore, Arielle Julia Brown, Autumn Brown, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, China Martens, Christy NaMee Eriksen, Claire Barrera, Cynthia Dewi Oka, Esteli Juarez Boyd, Fabielle Georges, Fabiola Sandoval, Gabriela Sandoval, H. Bindy K. Kang, Irene Lara, June Jordan, Karen Su, Katie Kaput, Layne Russell, Lindsey Campbell, Lisa Factora-Borchers, Loretta J. Ross, Mai'a Williams, Malkia A. Cyril, Mamas of Color Rising, Micaela Cadena, Noemi Martinez, Norma A. Marrun, Panquetzani, Rachel Broadwater, Sumayyah Talibah, Tara CC Villaba, Terri Nilliasca, tk karakashian tunchez, Victoria Law, and Vivian Chin.

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting, Feminism, Social Justice, Race, Essays, Politics

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 29, 2016

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't overstate the importance of parenting narratives that push back against the white supremacist capitalist cishet nuclear family norm & I can't overstate my gratitude and debt to women of colour and their insistence on the inclusion of mothering as power, liberation, and radical activism.

And also, I wish there had been more than one trans woman in this book, and I was hoping for some perspectives that integrated a powerful comprehension of mothering as divine with something other than binary biological essentialism, and didn't quite get that.

[Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

"mothering is love by any means necessary"

[zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

what took me so long! I picked this book up a few years ago, when I was a new parent, looking for a guide, trying to learn how to do this thing called revolutionary mothering. coming back to it now, as someone with almost 10 years of parenting and caregiving under my belt, it’s made me feel seen and affirmed and held. this collection tells the stories of m/others at the margins- mothers who are Black, Indigenous, disabled, teen aged, solo. It talks about mothering as a social practice, as a queer practice, as a practice of transforming relations. I’m so grateful for this collection and I know I will revisit many of these essays again.

[Katie ratherbereadinggg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Like any collection, some of the pieces hit harder than others for me. I was hoping for a bit more overall, but I do appreciate the ideas and contributions.

[zaynab · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is currently crafting her own plan for future revolutionary/fugitive mothering endeavors, reading this anthology was an extreme delight. It was heartfelt, searing in its truths and critiques of systems of oppression, and endearing with the personal antidotes about everyday parenting maneuvers. As a black queer Muslim, I tend to be severely ambivalent about raising children and/or starting my own family given the current states of oppression. Yet I feel better knowing there are other parents out there intent on family creation as an act of resistance.

Kudos to the editors, of whom I've gotten to know in person and through cyber space. I look forward to more productions such as this, dispatches from the lines of revolutionary mothering.

[Linnae Chau · Rating 5 out of 5]

yall😭🥺 this book. this anthology took my heart apart and put it back together again. every single piece left me tender, in awe, challenged, and so grateful and privileged to learn from these radical mothers and be raised by one too. i originally bought this as part of my own journey healing my relationship with my mom, particularly unlearning internalized expectations of white motherhood. this is so much more! to read from so many Black, Indigenous, & other mothers of color, LGBTQ+ mothers, single mothers, low-income mothers, mothers with disabilities, & all the intersections— revolutionary mothers! was just 🥺😭 ill have to come back to this book & this review...

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ introduction, she writes: “In order to collectively figure out how to sustain and support our evolving species, in order to participate in and demand a society where people help to create each other instead of too often destroying each other, we need to look at the practice of creating, nurturing, affirming, and supporting life that we call mothering.” This is a good encapsulation of the aims and contents of this anthology – diverse perspectives on what mothering is and the experience of mothering, often in challenging social/economic conditions, with connections drawn to creating social change broadly.

The anthology, inspired by This Bridge Called My Back, is organized into several sections: Shorelines to the Front Lines (on mothering as requiring confronting oppression and bridge-building), Bottom Line (on economic elements + poverty), Out (of) Lines (on mothering as queer and 2SLGBTQIA+ mothers), Two Pink Lines (birth, adoption, becoming mother), Between the Lines (manifestos, organizations, and projects).

Like any anthology, I found some contributions more compelling than others. Overall, I think it is very well edited, both diverse and cohesive. I appreciate the diversity of mother experiences that are reflected here, and that the experience of activist work as a parent is spoken to directly in several places. I did find some contributions veered into biological essentialist kind of thinking (though other contributions critiqued this and/or worked against it in different ways).

Content warnings: sexism, misogyny, racism, racial slurs, ableism, colonialism, pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, grief, medical content, medical trauma, sexual assault

[Nor]

Hard to give this a rating because the chapters are all so different ! Some I found very informative, some provocative, and some had observations that didn’t sit right.

[Lucinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this for revolutionary parenting and i absolutely loved it <3333 I finished the few short pieces that we didn't read for class over break.

[Laura Sackton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revolutionary Mothering is an anthology comprised of essays and poems by radical, revolutionary mothers. The voices in this book are the voices that are so often ignored in mainstream conversations about motherhood: queer and trans mamas, mamas of color, single moms, poor mothers, young mothers.

Inspired by This Bridge Called My Back, a collection of essays by radical women of color, published in 1981 and now a classic feminist text, Revolutionary Mothering is similar in tone and substance. The essays range from the academic to the personal. Some read like memoir, others are mostly feminist/radical analysis, and some lie more in the realm of manifesto.

While this was absolutely a worthwhile read, I found many of the pieces too vague or too short. I felt many of the contributions lacked a narrative arc, central theme, or organizing structure. I understood the importance of what these women had to say, but found it hard to connect to on a gut level. At times, the writing felt dry and vague; instead of sinking into the stories of radical motherhood, reading it felt more like being at a university lecture.

That said, I still think this book is absolutely worth reading. It brilliantly busts open all gatekeepers of motherhood, the idea that being a mother means being white, finically stable, straight, partnered, biologically related to your child. We so often put mothers on a pedestal, and when people dare to live whole, complicated, imperfect lives, lives that include parenthood, we chastise them for not doing it right, for not being perfect parents, for being poor or single or queer or living in the wrong neighborhood.

The women who contributed to this anthology represent a beautiful diversity of ways to be a mother. Their experiences are not the same, but they all share a commitment to motherhood as a radical action. These are mothers who have built all kinds of non-biological family, who have given birth or chosen not to, who are poor, who had children as teenagers, who love their children deeply, and who struggle with how parenthood redefines and rearrange a life.

They write about the deep joy they’ve experienced as mothers as well as the injustices they’ve faced as people of color, queer people, and mothers who don’t fit the mainstream mold. They write about motherhood as being revolutionary, about the various ways mothering is part of a larger struggle for justice, about the importance of nurturing, of raising children in activist communities, of building movements that include parents and children. I recommend it to anyone interested in expanding their ideas about motherhood and what it means–not just for parents, but for all of us humans.

Read my full review here.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You will be turned inside out. If not during the birth, then during the pregnancy, if not the pregnancy, by the nursing, by the sleepless night, the mind-bending loneliness, sooner or later you will break down. You will think, believe you cannot go on. You will realize that if you ever thought that facing yourself, the bloody, ugly, sublime truth of yourself was the ultimate responsibility, you were wrong. It is to face yourself and realize you cannot run away because another life, your child’s, depends on this ultimate self-encounter.”

-Mai’a Williams, Revolutionary Mothering

This book speaks to my heart. Several times I found myself with tears in my eyes, not because of how sad it was but because of how true it was.

This was a library book but I hope to soon own this book and consult it regularly.

[Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutionary Mothering is a collection of essays and poetry that discussed all the ways that mothering looks. I found myself captivated by each chapter as I honored the different experiences of mothering shared by the writers - black, indigenous, queer, immigrant, poc, solo, partnered, poor, rural, urban, southern, midwestern, coastal. So much of relationship to reproductive rights & justice has been connected to my politics around mothering, as an adoptee, a feminist, a queer woman of color. I'd recommend this anthology to anyone who has thought about mothering, in the broadest sense of the word, and who wants to explore the myriad iterations of mothering in families & communities.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book. I know I’ll return to it over and over again.

[Brooke Hebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my last book of 2019 and probably my favorite book that I read this year. It was a collage of poems, essays, letters, histories, and personal narratives from various mothers and mother figures who expressed their experiences navigating social structures in a world that sees motherhood as apolitical. This book taps into the complicated power of motherhood and women’s communal caregiving that is consistent despite differences in poverty, race, politics, culture, etc, which is why it is so radical. I loved this book and it is definitely on my list to gift to all the mommas I know.

[Merel van Berge Henegouwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

at times brilliant and at others vague and superficial, a generally inspiring and beautiful collection of stories about mothering despite the world that probably would connect more with people who are or wish to be mothers.

[Artnoose McMoose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an anthology of different accounts of mothering from a wide range of people. Lots of diversity on several different levels.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book with writings from lots of revolutionary mothers of color. Emotional and inspiring, more people should read this book.

[Lyrica Jensen Maldonado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some essays I didn’t enjoy but i sometimes just could not put this book down.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this after picking up Mai'a Williams's book "This is How We Survive: Revolutionary Mothering, War, and Exile on the Front Lines" and this book was a good companion. I read it very slowly, maybe one or two essays a night. They're short, varying widely in style and content, but the book is organized intuitively which was nice. Mothering is treated more expansively than giving birth to a biological child, but as usual, a book that does so much leaves you wishing it did even more (more on mothering teenagers, on mothering grandchildren, on adoption or fostering, or mothering young people in a chosen family, etc.) But this book is a great resource.

[ONYX Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so thankful to the editors and the contributors to this wonderful piece of work. I have been reading fiction for the past year, so it took a few pages for me to get into the writing.

I loved reading stories about mothering that were written by a diverse group of women at different stages of their lives. I don't want to include any spoilers in this review, but I will say that each story in this anthology illustrated the strength, vulnerability, and the necessity of revolutionary mothering. I have to say that my respect for women and transwomen who mother in difficult circumstances has grown as a result of reading this work. I also feel even more grateful for the women who have mothered me in addition to my biological mother.

I would recommend this anthology to anyone who is seeking to discover new ways to understand the importance and contributions of women and transwomen who choose to bring new life into this world. My reading group will be reading this book in the month of March, and I can't wait to see the discussions that unfold!

[Hannah Greenwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose to tandem-read this powerful anthology with an e-book and also the audiobook — I found that I was able to best appreciate the pieces throughout this book with this method of reading it. As I listened to the narrator and tracked along in the book, I made notes about the passages that really spoke to me, inspired me, or surprised me.

As a birthworker and mother of three daughters, I absolutely adore viewing mothering as the creative spirit or love itself. Mothering through this lense, as described in the introduction, is “the practice of creating, nurturing, affirming, and supporting life”. I personally feel that this is much more profound than simply “birthing and raising babies”, as society defines mothering. I think this way of viewing mothering truly conveys the importance of this work. “Child-raising as a form of resistance” is an incredibly powerful statement!

I believe that a lot of pregnant folks, new mothers, and birthworkers would benefit from reading this. If I had read this book in my early days of mothering, I would’ve felt validated in the ways I chose to mother my babies. I watered down my mothering for the comfort of others, and I won’t be doing that again.

While I don’t doubt that books like “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (or the variations for toddlerhood) have valuable insights in them, Revolutionary Mothering really digs into the importance of our role in raising our babies and improving the world for them. I’d absolutely recommend this book to clients!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my time reading this book and flagged several passages along the way. Here are the ones that most hit home for me, and would do better than a standard book review.

From The Creative Spirit by June Jordan:

I know of nothing more important, more difficult and more purely loving than the nurture of children. As a parent, a teacher or as an artist, wishing to serve them well children are the ways the world begins again and again, if you fasten upon the concept of their promise, you will have trouble finding anything more awesome and also anything more extra extraordinarily exhilarating than the opportunity or and the obligation to nurture a child into his or her own freedom.

Malkia A. Cyril:

How can a household, a community, or a nation be effectively governed when women are held disproportionately responsible for its future yet are disproportionately neglected, abused, excluded, isolated, and invisible? Two words: it can’t.

From the essay Queering family by Ariel Gore:

I want only a few of things vis’ a vis this ideal nuclear family:
To be a threat to it
To thrive outside its boundaries
To live to see the end of it
To use my limited talents and energy to be of whatever help I can as those damaged by its legacy begin to heal, make art, and build lives free from its intrinsic violence.

I find it amusing that to be a threat to the nuclear family, all one has to do is live happily (or in honest depression) outside of it.

[Okra Book Club · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was revolutionary, necessary and enlightening. A must-read for anyone who is looking to adopt/foster/mother or nurture children.

We loved that we got to see many different versions of what it means to practice revolutionary mothering. In the past, Western society taught us that 'acceptable' mothering happened under a nuclear, heteronormative model. Non-Western cultures advocated that 'good' mothering is a complete sacrifice of self and identity. Many of us will definitely be revisiting this book when we ready to have kids. Many of us are already doing the work. We are practising some of the revolutionary mothering principles offered in our interactions with our younger family members and mentees.


Engagment for Okra bookclub

We had so much fun in our book club discussing this book. This book helped us to work through and verbalise our own experiences with motherhood( as daughters). In addition to this, the socio-political ramifications of motherhood for working women.

Our takeaway?

As WOC we are rejecting the nuclear model of parenting. We don't need it. We don't want it; it is hurting us. We want community parenting and to be more than Mother. We want to m/other ourselves.

[Elle Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important book full of so many gems. These are just a few of my favorite quotes:

“I try not to get overwhelmed by being a mother to a daughter; in magic healing the body trusts our resiliency. She knows she’s strong, powerful and her body is hers and to trust her tummy feelings, and then I let go.” Body Memory, Fabiola Sandoval

“Perhaps the kind of home we need today is mobile, multiple, and underground.
Perhaps we need to become unavailable for state scrutiny so that we can experiment with reorganizing our social relations in revolutionary ways.
Against the rallying cry of freedom, I propose to embed rev- olutionary struggle in a politics of necessity and responsibility, a politics that enhances our encumbrance upon each other while re- jecting the extension of our dependence on state and capital.”
Mothering as Revolutionary Praxis, Cynthia Dewi Oka

“The birth of my child was the birth of a radical. I no longer had the luxury of dying young.” She Is a Radical, Tara Villalba and Lola Mondragón

[Sydnie Mosley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutionary Mothering is balm for my soul. I will revisit this one often as it affirms my whole being - the mothering that I come from, the mothering that I presently do, the mothering I have yet to do. It resides on my sacred shelf of Black feminist literature.
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In addition to the fact that I adore Alexis Pauline Gumbs and all of her work, this treatise on queering our idea of mothering, particularly in the case of women of color, is so wholly necessary I can't pick a single aspect of this work to highlight. I mean, even the way the volume is crafted is radical with poems next to drawings next to short narratives next to theoretical analysis - shared and edited by a collective of mothers making themselves visible.
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So, instead of just telling folks about it, I have been gifting Revolutionary Mothering to friend after friend after friend.

[Kira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been fundamental in shaping my understanding of the action and power of love. This book is a must read, especially for anyone who is parenting or nurturing change and anyone who is part of a feminist discourse. The wide array of experience and the individual narratives are crucial to gaining a better understanding of what humanity means and what activism means. I don’t usually enjoy anthologies/essays but this book changed my mind on that opinion, as well as some previously held bias’ against mothering and challenged this dominant dualism present in many white feminist discourses that pits being a mother as unimportant or against the cause of feminism. Very mind opening book.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the stories I’ve been looking for as a mother. The stories of survival, struggle, death and of course love that I haven’t been able to find in mainstream culture. The stories are of something bigger than the individual mothers themselves. They tell of why, as mothers, they have to fight. Fight for their children. Fight for themselves. Fight for humanity. Fight to change the world. As Lisa Factora-Borchers writes in her story Birthing the New Feminism, “motherhood is the state of helpless yearning… [and the] crazy urge to clean up the world for my son.”

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first this felt like homework in a philosophy of feminism course, but as I continued there were more soulful pieces that were easier for me to connect to.
The book maybe would have benefitted from a single editor or a final edit as there are typos and the flow of the pieces can be jarring, but it was a look at mothering in a non-white/capitalist-centered way that I haven't seen elsewhere and I recommend it heartily to anyone looking to broaden their worldview and expand their definitions of motherhood (which I think everyone should do!).

[Mareesha Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off I want to thank all the contributors to this phenomenal body of work! I am studying to become a Birth & Postpartum Doula and this book was recommended to me. I can’t give it enough stars! I highly recommend this book if you’re thinking of birthing an idea, a cause, a revolution or of course a child!! From the introduction, the poetry, to the overall experience each woman shared, was just what I needed in my toolkit to become the best Doula I can be!

[Akira DC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am obsessed by the idea that to Mother is the Queerest thing of them all. I think about how queer youth have to mother themselves and their chosen family all the time, as well as Black youth. It deeply aligns with my understanding of Queerness as a radical act, a tender act. As a doula, it has helped me deepen my understanding of my work, which is a form of revolutionary mothering as we help birth the future.