Mothering a Legacy

Lucy McBath and Revolutionary Motherhood in Black Women’s Political Rhetoric

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21633393
AutoresIruoma U Ezumba (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, autor de correspondencia), Leslie J Harris (0009-0009-6145-4675, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee)
Año2025
Volumen76
Número6
Páginas587-604
Fecha de publicación2025-11-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCommunication Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1051-0974 • E-ISSN: 1745-1035
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10510974.2025.2477846
OpenAlexW4408511347
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas63

Lucy McBath, renowned for her advocacy against gun violence, defied expectations as the first Black woman to represent Georgia’s predominantly white 6th congressional district. Given the constraints that Black women face in politics, McBath’s campaign offers an important case for studying how Black women utilize motherhood rhetoric for political agency. We argue that McBath’s rhetoric, rooted in revolutionary motherhood, constructs motherhood as fearful, empowered, and collective. It acknowledges the precarity of children’s lives in a cultural context where they are always at risk. Still, it also insists that through collective action, mothers can protect children. The study contributes to rhetorical theory by showing how revolutionary motherhood can serve as public rhetoric and how Black women strategically use rhetoric to challenge racial domination

Aesthetics · Art · Black feminism · Black women · Feminism · Linguistics · Political rhetoric · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Gender Studies · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Rhetoric and Communication Studies