Killing the Black Body
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty is a 1997 book by American academic Dorothy Roberts, published by Pantheon Books. In the book, Roberts analyzes reproductive rights in the United States through the lens of race, giving a historical account of black women under slavery and the forced sterilization of black and Latina populations in the 20th century, arguing that reproductive justice should include the rights of groups as well as rights of individuals.
 Front cover | |
| Author | Dorothy Roberts |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Subject | Slavery, race, reproductive rights |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Pantheon Books |
| Pages | 373 pages |
| ISBN | 9780679442264 |
Background
An academic who studies law, gender, race and class, the author Dorothy Roberts was professor of law at Rutgers University at the time the book was published.[1] Killing the Black Body was published in hardcover on 9 October 1997 by Pantheon Books.[1] The paperback was released by Vintage Publishing in 1998.[2]
Synopsis
Roberts argues that in modern America, institutional violence against black women and their reproductive autonomy has been exercised since slavery in the country began. Female slaves were often brought from Africa to America for breeding, where their white male owners would rape them and sell their children for profit. The book details the life of Anna J. Cooper, who was born a slave and became an academic and activist.
In the early 20th century, women's movements for contraception were supported by eugenicists who used contraception to decrease birth rates amongst the black and Latina population in the South. Such efforts were aided by anti-miscegenation laws that criminalized interracial marriage or intercourse. Roberts gives an ambivalent account of Margaret Sanger, an early American birth control advocate. Hysterectomies of black women which served no medical purpose, but sterilized the women, continued into the 1970s.
In a similar case, Roberts describes Norplant, a Levonorgestrel-releasing implant used for birth control. She documents mandatory implantation of Norplant, on the orders of courts, doctors and healthcare organizations, in black women living in urban areas to prevent them from having children. She argues that the War on Poverty initiated by Lyndon B. Johnson disproportionately affected black single mothers, who had higher rates of poverty. Roberts also describes the prosecution of drug usage among pregnant mothers under the crime of drug trafficking to a minor—their fetus. Roberts cites a study which found that black women were ten times more likely to be reported to law enforcement for drug usage than white women, despite marginally higher drug usage amongst white women.
Roberts outlines initiatives to change the treatment of black women in America, writing that reproductive justice cannot occur without addressing racial oppression. She critiques liberalism. Roberts believes that money spent on in vitro fertilisation could be better redirected to improve reproductive rights of a greater number of women. She asserts that conversations about reproductive liberty should include mention of prenatal care being available to pregnant people as a right and opposition to state funding for abortions for women on benefits.
Reception
A starred review for Kirkus Reviews summarized the book as "brilliant, controversial, and profoundly valuable". The reviewer praised that "Roberts's arguments are especially convincing because they are so well researched and thoroughly dissected" and found that her "knowledge of her subject is total".[1] Isis's Susan L. Smith summarized the book as "a well-written, passionate and enlightening exploration of the impact of racial politics on reproduction". Smith found that Roberts was "at her best when commenting on the contemporary era", but criticized the lack of "examples of black women's resistance" and the "rather unsatisfactory repetition" of historical material which has been studied by Deborah Gray White and Angela Davis.[3]
Sherri L. Barnes of Feminist Collections reviewed the book as "readable by and accessible to general and academic audiences". She praised that Roberts wrote with "great compassion and sensitivity, presenting multiple perspectives".[2] Karen D. Zivi said that although Roberts "made a brilliant start at illustrating the workings of a raced and classed maternal ideology" in punitive law enforcement and conception of reproductive rights, she should have been more critical of "her own notion of reproductive liberty".[4] A writer for Canadian Woman Studies found the book "invaluable as a feminist resource in any classroom". The review praised Roberts for "remarkable sensitivity" in discussing differences between the rights of individuals and the rights of groups such as black women. It found the discussion of slave breeding "perhaps too extensive".[5]
References
- "Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty (Book Review)". Kirkus Reviews. 15 September 1997. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- Barnes, Sherri. L (2005). "Are Abortion Politics Relevant to Women of Color?". Feminist Collections. University of Wisconsin System. 27 (1): 1–5. ISSN 0742-7441.
- Smith, Susan L. (March 1999). "Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty (Book Review)". Isis. University of Chicago Press. 90 (1): 101–2. ISSN 0021-1753.
- Zivi, Karen D. (2000). "Who Is the Guilty Party - Rights, Motherhood, and the Problem of Prenatal Drug Exposure". Law & Society Review. 34 (1): 237–258. ISSN 0023-9216.
- "Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty (Book Review)". Canadian Woman Studies. Inanna Publications. 18 (4): 121–2. 1999. ISSN 0713-3235.