Research Project Amplifies Voices of African-Caribbean Mothers

African-Caribbean mothers residing in Leeds are participating in a research initiative exploring black family dynamics across the United Kingdom. Researchers from Leeds Beckett University intend to utilize the insights gathered from this project to provide professionals assisting families with a deeper understanding of these communities and to confront existing negative stereotypes. Participating mothers, invited to share their perspectives on parenting, each composed a letter addressed to their daughter, detailing advice they wished they had received during their own childhood. Dominique Belgrave, a 31-year-old from Woodhouse, stated she penned a letter to her four-year-old daughter, Imaani, conveying the message: “I never wanted you to be any more or less than what you are, because you are enough.” Imaani’s birth involved a condition identified as a chromosome deletion, resulting in certain developmental delays. Ms. Belgrave expressed that she occasionally felt disregarded while managing Imaani’s diagnosis process. She elaborated: “I feel like you have to probably approach the same thing on multiple occasions, have to say the same thing more than once to be heard.” She added, “I feel like what you’re saying is not necessarily taken at face value. “I think it’s a case of, someone else tries to tell you what your experiences are. No, that’s not what happened. That’s not what you’re feeling.”” Dionne Cummings, 44, a mother of five children ranging from seven to 18 years old, residing in Rothwell, has also engaged in this initiative. Within her letter addressed to her 10-year-old daughter, Alexis, she wrote: “You, my darling, are unapologetically yourself. Fearlessly advocating for what is right, and just.” Ms. Cummings described her involvement in the letter-writing project as an emotional experience. Nevertheless, she clarified that it was crucial to “put the perspectives of mothers in society and change the narrative”. She stated: “When you are a mother bringing up a child, especially when you are of ethnic minority being black, you sometimes get unfair disadvantages,” adding, “When I was younger, I was told if you’re black you have to work twice as hard as your counterparts in order to do well and succeed in life.” She concluded, “I don’t want to have that same narrative for her and I want to change that. I want her to realise what she can achieve, and how amazing she is.” While the majority of research concerning black motherhood has originated in America, the team members at Leeds Beckett University indicated their desire to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the British context. They are currently compiling data from the workshops and letters to develop educational materials intended for distribution to professionals who engage with families, including medical personnel, educators, and social workers. Shirleeccia Ward, also from Leeds Beckett University, commented: “What I’m hoping for is to give them an insight, so they can have a little bird’s-eye view, some inside information as to how these families function when they’re not under the microscope.” Ms. Ward further clarified: “I wanted to do the research to give a voice to African-Caribbean mothers about their experience. “I felt as though there was a massive gap in literature about them from their perspective. “When the women themselves give the information, it means there is another depth.””