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Episode 2 of #Bridgerton 
opens with the death of a Black mother in child birth. The handling of this topic is so harmful when we know that Black mothers in the UK and US are over five times more likely to die during and after pregnancy and childbirth. 1/
opens with the death of a Black mother in child birth. The handling of this topic is so harmful when we know that Black mothers in the UK and US are over five times more likely to die during and after pregnancy and childbirth. 1/
The series' plot blames the Duchess' death on her tyrannical husband who is Black. This dangerously displaces the causes of Black maternal mortality on to the Black father when in fact the real cause of mothers dying are white systems of racist medical practice 2/
and the stress of living in racism, known as 'weathering'. Class is no protection as the tragic story of Shalon Irving makes clear. https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth
In the 18thc, transatlantic slavery relied on Black mothers to birth, while stealing their children and their lives. See Saidiya Hartman, "The Belly of the World": https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10999949.2016.1162596?journalCode=usou20
#Bridgerton harmfully projects a crude and violent attitude arising from adherence to primogeniture on to the Black Duke. But that system of male inheritance they make him the mouthpiece for is *white*. The dying mother was turned into a bloody spectacle for our consumption.
harmfully projects a crude and violent attitude arising from adherence to primogeniture on to the Black Duke. But that system of male inheritance they make him the mouthpiece for is *white*. The dying mother was turned into a bloody spectacle for our consumption.
