Competing Identities: An Ecological Model of Nationality Formation
Author(s)
Cederman, Lars-erik
Abstract
This article offers a comparison of the views of motherhood held by New York black women involved in a Mount Vernon/New Rochelle (MV/NR) group and white members of the New York Radical Women (NYRW) in the 1960s. While the former group viewed motherhood as a source of women’s power, the latter saw it as a locus of oppression. Based on interviews with former members of MV/NR and NYRW and primary documents from both groups, the contributions and limitations of each approach are identified. The MV/NR group associated mothering with community activism as an adaptation to an oppressive reality that offered few other ways to channel abilities and creativity. NYRW validated other options for women by challenging the sacredness of motherhood in a manner that seemed to support patriarchal society’s degradation of child care. It is concluded that connecting across racial and class lines is essential for women who hope to realize the 1960’s goal of female liberation.
