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On this 9th day of Black history month,
we will first have
a preview of this week.
Then today,
I’m going to talk about a concept
embedded in the nation’s psyche
we don’t talk about
& need to
So I can stop
constantly
explaining why I ain’t one.
#NotYourTittyMammy
we will first have
a preview of this week.
Then today,
I’m going to talk about a concept
embedded in the nation’s psyche
we don’t talk about
& need to
So I can stop
constantly
explaining why I ain’t one.
#NotYourTittyMammy
Preview:
9th- I’m #NotYourTittyMammy
10th- Black people receiving rest
11th - Black people relinquishing burdens and resting
12th- learning from the presence of Black art
And the absence of Black people
13th- Black people and prison, white people and accountability
9th- I’m #NotYourTittyMammy
10th- Black people receiving rest
11th - Black people relinquishing burdens and resting
12th- learning from the presence of Black art
And the absence of Black people
13th- Black people and prison, white people and accountability
14th - Black love movies to watch
because I’m ... not going to be available.
A good part of the day.
I got a video date
and will be receiving devotions.
So I’ll be phoning that one in.
because I’m ... not going to be available.
A good part of the day.
I got a video date
and will be receiving devotions.
So I’ll be phoning that one in.
Here’s my Amazon wishlist
if you would like to send a devotion. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3791OZLFMHG1G?ref_=wl_share
if you would like to send a devotion. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3791OZLFMHG1G?ref_=wl_share
I need about a half hour to set up. Then we’re going to talk Titty Mammys.
#BlackHistoryMonth2021
#NotYourTittyMammy
#DisabledBlackTalk
#BlackHistoryMonth2021
#NotYourTittyMammy
#DisabledBlackTalk
Okay so I can see by the initial response
that I have scared the crap
out of some of you.
I can tell by the silence
from would-be trolls
the term is scary to them.
And it should be.
We’re bringing Jim Crow terms
and ideas
into this century
and it needs to stop.
that I have scared the crap
out of some of you.
I can tell by the silence
from would-be trolls
the term is scary to them.
And it should be.
We’re bringing Jim Crow terms
and ideas
into this century
and it needs to stop.
As Nina Simone said
“Slavery has never been abolished
from America’s way of thinking.”
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/nina_simone_203076
We think,
we speak,
we do,
then we are.
Words matter.
“Slavery has never been abolished
from America’s way of thinking.”
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/nina_simone_203076
We think,
we speak,
we do,
then we are.
Words matter.
For example.
Auntie, in reference to Black women has 2 meanings.
In African cultures it’s a sign of respect.
All Black women of our mother’s age deserve that we respect get this title, of sister to our mother.
Or simply Mama “first born.”
It’s embracing you as heart fam.
Auntie, in reference to Black women has 2 meanings.
In African cultures it’s a sign of respect.
All Black women of our mother’s age deserve that we respect get this title, of sister to our mother.
Or simply Mama “first born.”
It’s embracing you as heart fam.
In the Jim Crow South however,
there was Mammy
and there was Auntie.
Auntie was divorced from the respect.
It came to mean “any Black woman we deem too old to be of sexual misuse.”
These connotations make it extremely NOT okay for white people to call Black women Auntie.
there was Mammy
and there was Auntie.
Auntie was divorced from the respect.
It came to mean “any Black woman we deem too old to be of sexual misuse.”
These connotations make it extremely NOT okay for white people to call Black women Auntie.
But it wasn’t as bad as Mammy.
Because until about 1970, not too long before I was born?
Black women raised the white children in this country. Sometimes forcing them not to be physically present for their own.
Because until about 1970, not too long before I was born?
Black women raised the white children in this country. Sometimes forcing them not to be physically present for their own.
From “Nurses and Mammies”
“The term "mammy," a variation on "mommy" or "mama," was used in the South to describe a black woman who cared for a slaveholder's children...., mammies often cared for all of a plantation's children regardless of bloodline.”
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/nurses-and-mammies
“The term "mammy," a variation on "mommy" or "mama," was used in the South to describe a black woman who cared for a slaveholder's children...., mammies often cared for all of a plantation's children regardless of bloodline.”
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/nurses-and-mammies
Think of the role Hattie McDaniel played in Gone with the Wind. People want to jump down her neck for it but what other roles were there at the time in major motion pictures?
We had to sneak in cracks to kick open doors. And Red Summer taught, we needed to be too big to burn.
We had to sneak in cracks to kick open doors. And Red Summer taught, we needed to be too big to burn.
Anyway. Now you have a picture in your mind. A nourishing nurturing figure. Someone who had a little bit of leeway in disciplining you but no real power.
Sometimes expected to take care of Everyone on the plantation domestically.
Expected.
To care for.
Everyone.
Sometimes expected to take care of Everyone on the plantation domestically.
Expected.
To care for.
Everyone.
From CCAM Exhibit, “Making Mammy: A Caricature of Black Womanhood, 1840–1940”
“Popularized into the 20th century by characters such as “Mammy” in ... Gone with the Wind (1939), this archetype of black domestic servitude was often depicted as good-natured, overweight, and loud.”
“Popularized into the 20th century by characters such as “Mammy” in ... Gone with the Wind (1939), this archetype of black domestic servitude was often depicted as good-natured, overweight, and loud.”
More:
“Presenting an ahistorical view of black womanhood ... the mammy not only embellished the realities of black life in the American South, but it also denied African American women their femininity, beauty, and strength.” https://caamuseum.org/exhibitions/2019/making-mammy-a-caricature-of-black-womanhood-18401940
“Presenting an ahistorical view of black womanhood ... the mammy not only embellished the realities of black life in the American South, but it also denied African American women their femininity, beauty, and strength.” https://caamuseum.org/exhibitions/2019/making-mammy-a-caricature-of-black-womanhood-18401940
I.E. If you’re servile and outside the traditional framework of beauty - yes, the white one - you’re allegedly unfuckable and not beautiful or feminine.
And if you’re not feminine and beautiful, but you’re servile, you’re “strong” and if you’re strong
Why do you need sweetness, love, protection, respect?
Why do you need sweetness, love, protection, respect?
A tangent to think on.
As is this next excerpt From a Bodylore entry by Taylor Simmons.
As is this next excerpt From a Bodylore entry by Taylor Simmons.
“An African American woman being chosen to work domestically for a white family based on physical characteristics and lack of sex appeal further oppresses her. Race & gender are a few of the social constructions that socially stratify minorities ...”
https://sites.wp.odu.edu/bodylore/2020/03/03/the-asexual-mammy-figure-and-the-black-body/
https://sites.wp.odu.edu/bodylore/2020/03/03/the-asexual-mammy-figure-and-the-black-body/
Mammy is tinged with oppressive affection.
People don’t say it anymore. But even when they don’t say it? They mean it. Particularly here in the South.
Which brings us to the Titty Mammy.
People don’t say it anymore. But even when they don’t say it? They mean it. Particularly here in the South.
Which brings us to the Titty Mammy.
I’ve only seen one film EVER deal with this, as common as it was. It is the gorgeous film Daughters of the Dust by the amazingly talented and far ahead of her time, Ms. @JulieDash.
A thread I dedicated to that incredible work of hers. https://twitter.com/tinu/status/1037213215191654401
A thread I dedicated to that incredible work of hers. https://twitter.com/tinu/status/1037213215191654401
In this film, a character named Yellow Mary has to mutilate herself to escape the servitude of a family. I won’t spoil the film but it’s in this plot where I saw the concept of a titty mammy explored in Black art.
And nowhere else but in slave narratives.
And nowhere else but in slave narratives.
Titty mammies breastfeed all the children. Black, white, it didn’t matter.
So think about it. The first antibodies, the first nourishment, literal nourishment, coming from a Black woman, who would then raise that child, who would later abuse them and their people.
So think about it. The first antibodies, the first nourishment, literal nourishment, coming from a Black woman, who would then raise that child, who would later abuse them and their people.
Breastfeeding can change the shape of your breasts, your tissue. We now know it affects your brain, positively.
How odd that it is supposed to make children more connected to you but the children Black women breast fed for centuries chose to keep them enslaved.
How odd that it is supposed to make children more connected to you but the children Black women breast fed for centuries chose to keep them enslaved.
Anyway. So the descendant of this phenomenon is me, and women like me.
The voluptuous Black diva on the bus who has headphones on with no music in them just so you won’t sit your ass down and start talking to me for no reason.
The voluptuous Black diva on the bus who has headphones on with no music in them just so you won’t sit your ass down and start talking to me for no reason.
The Black woman you think is sitting here educating you out of a sense of duty and not, say, testing the smallest version of her ideas for future book sales.
Or for perhaps, a better world.
Or for perhaps, a better world.
It’s the difference between the woman giving freely from her heart and the woman you attempt to take from by force.
Stop
Giving
Black
Women
Extra
Work
Especially
not as a reward for getting America
Out of its various jams.
We’re tired. And #NotYourTittyMammy
Stop
Giving
Black
Women
Extra
Work
Especially
not as a reward for getting America
Out of its various jams.
We’re tired. And #NotYourTittyMammy
I want you to think about that every time you see a person ask Black people to do work that Google can do.
“You’re already on the internet”, you can tell them. “Go look it up.”
Whether they do or not isn’t your problem. Just deflect them away from us.
“You’re already on the internet”, you can tell them. “Go look it up.”
Whether they do or not isn’t your problem. Just deflect them away from us.
So that’s what that means. I will add more mammy references throughout the day as I please.
In the meantime, if you’d like to give me work? Also give me money.
Please and thank you.
In the meantime, if you’d like to give me work? Also give me money.
Please and thank you.
More from the brilliant @DrCherylT
Please. Get comfortable in a chair and read all of this. Otherwise I’ll be back to harass you and neither of us wants that. https://theconversation.com/i-am-not-your-nice-mammy-how-racist-stereotypes-still-impact-women-111028
Please. Get comfortable in a chair and read all of this. Otherwise I’ll be back to harass you and neither of us wants that. https://theconversation.com/i-am-not-your-nice-mammy-how-racist-stereotypes-still-impact-women-111028
