About This Book
The Motherhood Aesthetic in Contemporary Black American Plays
By La Tanya L. Reese Rogers and Tanya E. Walker
Published by Publishing Without Walls (PWW), Urbana, Ill., an imprint of the Illinois Open Publishing Network (IOPN). IOPN is a project of the University Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Published as part of the AFRO Publishing Without Walls (AFRO-PWW) series.
ISBN 978-1-946011-32-9
Please cite this book using the DOI: 10.21900/pww.29.
Synopsis
This collection introduces the “Black female Motherhood Aesthetic,” a theory revealing the complexities of Black motherhood in contemporary America. Through an interpretation of plays written by Black female playwrights Suzan-Lori Parks, Cheryl West, Aishah Rahman, Dael Orlandersmith, and Velina Hasu Houston, the authors define the aesthetic to showcase the full humanity of Black women, exploring Black women’s self-determination, trauma, bravery, and joy.
These playwrights engage in “response writing,” allowing their characters to address their lived experiences. Issues like skin-color marginalization, intersectional identity, and family dislocation are re-examined. This aesthetic challenges past portrayals of the idealized Black family, presenting diverse and realistic representations of motherhood. It affirms that Black families are not homogenous, but multifaceted, reflecting the varied realities of Black women’s lives.
Image Notes and Credits
Cover image generated by La Tanya L. Reese Rogers using Freepik. Cover design by Great Banji-Ojo.
Figures 1-15 and 17-19 are AI-generated images created by La Tanya L. Reese Rogers using Freepik, Adobe Firefly, and Canva. The AI-generated images have no copyright. Other image rights information and permissions can be found in the details of individual media items.
Funding Notice
This work is a digital humanities project that was developed as part of a collaboration with the History of Black Writing’s Black Book Interactive Project (BBIP) Digital Publishing Scholars Program, an NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant, and African American Studies Publishing Without Walls 2 (AFRO-PWW 2) at the University of Illinois, funded by the Mellon Foundation. AFRO-PWW 2 collaborates with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Black Studies scholars at PWIs, and community-based memory institutions to produce open-source digital publications that document Black lives and experiences.
Copyright
The Motherhood Aesthetic in Contemporary Black American Plays Copyright © 2025 by La Tanya L. Reese Rogers and Tanya E. Walker.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted.
