Black Woman's Burden: Commodifying Black Reproduction

Black Woman’s Burden examines the historical endeavors to regulate Black female sexuality and reproduction in the United States through methods of exploitation, control, repression, and coercion. The myth of the “angry Black woman” has been built over generations through clever rhetoric and oppressive social policy. Here Rousseau explores the continued impact of labeling and stereotyping on the development of policies that lead to the construction of national, racial, and gender identities for Black women.

Nicole Rousseau is assistant professor in the department of Sociology at Kent State University.