Killing the Black Body

Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

By: Dorothy Roberts

Narrated by: Shayna Small

This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years--using a black feminist lens and the issue of the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on black women's--especially poor black women's--control over their bodies' autonomy and their freedom to bear and raise children with respect and dignity in a society whose white mainstream is determined to demonize, even criminalize their lives. It gives its readers a cogent legal and historical argument for a radically new , and socially transformative, definition of "liberty" and "equality" for the American polity from a black feminist perspective.

Critic reviews

“Monumental. . . . An important contribution to the literature of civil rights, reproductive issues, racism and feminism.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Compelling. . . . Deftly shows how distorted and racist constructions of black motherhood have affected politics, law, and policy in the United States.” —Ms.

“Brilliant, controversial, and profoundly valuable. . . . An important stepping-stone toward transforming the way black women and their children are treated in America.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Chilling. . . . It becomes difficult to reject the author’s thesis. . . that there is a sustained, and in some quarters deliberate, campaign to punish Black women—especially the poor—for having children.” —The National Law Journal

“An important and riveting book that skillfully and compellingly explains contemporary challenges to reproductive freedom.” —Patricia Hill Collins, author of Black Feminist Thought

“A must-read for all those who claim to care about racial and gender justice in America.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

“A leading-edge critique of reproductive racism . . . In this current era, we discover the foresight and absolute necessity of Roberts’s approach.” —Angela Davis

“Race in America cannot be fully understood without reading this compelling investigation. . . . Timely, insightful and unforgettable.” —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy

“A seminal work. . . . Indispensable. . . . Prescient. . . . Even more urgent and more pertinent than it was twenty years ago.” —Harriet Washington, author of Medical Apartheid

“A work of stunning erudition and finely calibrated moral concern. . . . Urgent, evocative and indispensable.” —William Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope

Everything IS about Race

I think often about people who complain why everything is about race, when in reality the U.S. designed their systems and government assistance specifically based on racial matters. It’s incredibly interesting to me how poor White people will work against their best interests all in the vain of hurting Black people.

Excellent!!!

ITS HISTORY
ITS CURRENT DAY
AND ITS FUTURE IDEOLOGY!

This book is a must have read for any Maternal Health worker , especially those working with the Black community. I even recommend this for educators as well.

A must read

It’s been 20 years since this book was originally published and you will be amazed by how it could have been written yesterday.

Some context was missed

Extremely insightful book, but somehow the author forgot to mention that not only were black and impoverished Puerto Rican women sterilized on mass, they were also used as guinea pigs to test the birth control pill without their knowledge or consent. During these tests they would double the dosage that is usually prescribed today. As a result one fith of the women developed cancer or became infertile after the test trials.

Terribly sad but very informative. Highly recommend.

This book was a very illuminating inside view of the travesties of the birth control industry on black women’s reproductive rights. I already knew that Puerto Rican women had been the first to be experimented on with the pill. There is so much here that I didn’t realize. I highly recommend reading this. I have more distrust for the birth control industry that ever before!