Mama Bear: One Black Mother’s Fight for Her Child’s Life and Her Own – A Compelling Memoir of Survival and Healing

by Shirley Smith

In this moving memoir, Shirley Smith, wife of NBA Champion and All-Star J. R. Smith, tells the story of giving birth to one of the youngest premature babies to survive—using her experience to heighten awareness of the crisis of Black maternal and infant health and pay tribute to Black women’s resilience.

Shirley Smith and her husband, NBA champion J. R. Smith, looked forward to the birth of their second child, Dakota, as they celebrated New Year’s Eve with family at home. After dinner, Shirley felt a sharp pain that worsened through the night. Only 21-weeks pregnant, she was in labor. Mama Bear is the story of her 141-day ordeal, from entering a hospital emergency room on New Year’s morning and giving birth to her premature newborn, to taking her daughter home for the first time the following May.

In telling her story, written with Zelda Lockhart, Shirley shines a spotlight on the dangers Black women face during pregnancy. Black mothers are twice as likely as their white counterparts to go into labor prematurely and lose their babies—and almost four times as likely to die giving birth. Neither socioeconomic status nor access to quality healthcare seem to matter. Tennis champion Serena Williams experienced life-threatening complications during childbirth, and Beyoncé suffered toxemia with her premature twins. 

Shirley chronicles the emotional and physical battle she and J. R. endured to save their daughter, and her continual struggles to support her family while nurturing herself. Like many Black women, Shirley was raised to believe that pain is a sign of weakness. The one who kept it together for everybody, she had always put herself second. She parallels this difficult journey to her childhood growing up with an addict mother, and having to raise herself and her brother from a very young age. 

A chronicle of pain, loss, and infidelity, Mama Bear is ultimately a story of love—a celebration of community, family, faith, healing, the maternal bond, and one woman’s indomitable spirit. 

Genres: Nonfiction

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2021

About the author

Shirley Smith is CEO of My Kota Bear, a non-profit organization that brings awareness and support to NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) families. She travels and speaks on issues of Black female mortality and premature births to educate and encourage parents and offer guidance to women who have struggled with postpartum depression. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Reviews

[Lindsey Keys White · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Inside Job

There are certain books that will always have a place in your heart. They reflect a story you know all too well. Perhaps, they ignite your curiosity to explore new ventures. Sometimes, they just stir your soul to its core. This book, Mama Bear, did just that to me.


I want to label this book so many things. Memoir. Self-Help. Manifesto. A How -to-Survive Guide. But at its foundation it is simply a siren. A beacon, sounding off to all women, but especially black women, to heal their inner child. It is a calling card to make peace with fractured mother-daughter bonds, abandonment, family secrets, generational curses, and all forms of drama. Shirley Smith implores us as black women to see our best selves as deserving…of everything good.


This book deals with life from the vantage point of a premature birth. Shirley Smith and her family survived a nightmare in the NICU. But her ability to share her journey to rebirth as a healed and free woman is one, I hope we all can experience. The journey to self-love is ongoing. Oftentimes, we will have to venture back in time to our own births and start there for answers. The work required is hard and at times isolating. But as Shirley Smith reminds us, FREEDOM really is an inside job!


Thank you to @onyxeditions @harperperennial @harpercollins!! Everyone be on the lookout for the release of this jewel very soon!!

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[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an inspirational read. Smith shares the pain from her childhood, the fear of a pregnancy gone wrong and being a mother to a preemie fighting for life. The bravery involved in sharing this story of childhood trauma including addiction of a parent, abandonment, and a lack of consistency and of motherhood and postpartum depression. It was a joy to spend time with an amazing woman who isn't afraid to show the rougher edges of her life. Thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for the digital ARC.

[Deidra Howard-Fransaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

GRIPPING!! Mrs Smith pulls the shades back on what ails a huge percentage of America. Life threw her curve ball after curve ball and she stood on the plate and with determination, prayer and family she prevailed! The early birth of Dakota brought out the armor she needed to bring her child home. am honored for this peek into the life of such a phenomenal woman. Please do yourself a favor and read this book, it will help you in various areas of your life.

[Monica Quarles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. I appreciate Shirley sharing her journey. However, at times it felt the story transitions were abrupt and there were still parts of the story missing to make it whole. As someone dealing with mother loss and a mother with her own trauma, the sections on her mother relationship resonated with me.

[Reid Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. It offered such a beautiful perspective about the importance of faith, community and self care. Written in such captivating voice, Shirley brings you through her story in way that is honest, reflective and hopeful.