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Morgan and Davis “motherhood”

The concept of motherhood is addressed in both Davis and Morgan’s work, and in both works it is used to show the contrast created between black motherhood and the ideal mother. Black women were seen as breeders rather than mothers during the time period discussed. They both seem to place an emphasis on the fertility of black women being appreciated in order to increase the slave population. In Morgan’s work, the contrast was used as a way to create a division between the races. The physical differences between the races were observed in great detail from body types and hair texture to the shapes of noses. The role of the black mother was not only to create more children, but to pass along their genetic traits to sustain the racial hierarchy that allows slavery to exist, and all of the benefits that comes with free labor. Morgan also wrote about Moota who was an enslaved woman who had children that never truly belonged to her. Women like Moota gave birth, but they never got to understand what is was like to be a mother  She also wrote about the difficulties black mothers had forming a motherly connection with their children while being enslaved.This proves that for these women, motherhood went as far as giving birth to increase a population and not really much after this point. The black woman’s ability to be a good mother was attacked by making her the scapegoat for the physical differences between the races, thus making black people inferior.When Davis talks about enslaved mothers being seen as breeders, we know that this view is used as a way to justify the selling and buying of children. Mothers were legally stripped of their claim to their children. The division of motherhood and what black mothers were seen as, made it easier to pass such outrageous laws. Morgan and Davis both showed us how mothers were dehumanized in order to justify all of the terrible thing that are done to them, and how motherhood was used a weapon against them.