Playing Catch-Up: The Cumulative Effects of Gender, Race, & SES as a Parent in the Academy
By Angela M. Johnson
This piece is a part of our Spark series Parenting in the Academy
“No one ever said life was fair!” bellowed Mr. Giancotti*, one of my beloved high school English teachers at Central Philadelphia High School*, as he breathlessly caught the school elevator to climb the few floors to his 4th floor English class. Just the sight of Giancotti usually quieted murmured complaints from me about some or another unfair incident of which there seemed to be an endless stream those last few years of high school. Himself, a paraplegic who hobbled loudly round the school with his hands harnessed on metal crutches, Mr. Giancotti may have appeared a diminished man with his short stature (he came just to the shoulder of my own 5’ 2” frame) and his perpetually crouched sliding legs. But I could never openly complain when I was with Mr. Giancotti perhaps because he quickly and frequently espoused vocal indignation against complaints that reflected my own feelings of inadequacy. Giancotti reminded me that I was privileged somehow; that with some hard work and a little bit of luck, I could flee the confines of a poor, hungry, abusive, and dangerous home existence to luxuriate in the safe haven of school which offered me space to grow academically and emotionally. Mr. Giancotti would never escape his permanent physical limitations and the clear sarcasm he fought to control daily.
Mr. Giancotti was one of many who helped prepare me for the “unfair” road ahead. I am far more aware but yet still confounded by mysteries of my escape. Mr. Gianacotti and I identified a bit with each other, and I admired his strength — though I doubted my own. For me it served to highlight not so much my own privilege as an able-bodied adult, but rather the deeply defining significance and impact of social class. I didn’t many from my neighborhood get far beyond the public housing or “projects” where we grew up.
In the decades since Central High, I’ve become a social scientist intellectually enhanced with understanding of how social, structural, and other environmental economic impact particular racial, gendered and other socially situated identities experience. In graduate school I studied the intellectual qualities of sociological theory and immersed myself into early research training and practice. Perhaps this was my personal becoming professional? Always knocking on and knocking down doors of opportunity became an exercise of proving to others and to myself — that I could do it despite being black and despite being poor.
My existence was and still is defined by these social identities, and now the identities of my children.
Some of us parents of color, particularly women, who are first generation academics from poor working-class backgrounds are uniquely situated to experience the combined effect of these triad identities. The tangible effects might be nominal but are more likely hierarchal and powerful life determinants such as lack of social and cultural capital, absence of generational wealth, and the missing social, cultural, psychological, and health advantages that typically accompany higher gradations of privileged social status. The advantage of easy access that wealthy well-resourced students have, such as highlighted, in the recent college admissions scandal is no secret.
Gendered and Racialized Experience of Purposeful Parenting
Now parentally responsible for 3 children, I have become acutely aware of challenges and dangers that may befall my children informed by their social position as brown skinned children in lower-middle strata American society. Situational poverty is not part of their narrative, yet the values and lessons informed by my own experience inform the racialized socialization their father and I must instill. For mothers of color, and especially African American women, the lived experience of being both a woman and African American are inextricably intertwined that manifest as socially and structurally embedded factors. First is the critical fact that motherhood is a life-threatening endeavor for African American mothers who must physically “weather” the experience of motherhood, though not always successful. She may fall victim to physically, mentally, and or socially devastating birth outcomes or experiences that motherhood brings to African American women. Additionally, daily experiences are more likely to produce hyper-vigilance or racialized violence against themselves, their children, or their partner. As well as those impacts that structural racism has imposed multi generationally. Moreover, the penalties of parenting are real and sometimes recognized as the price of motherhood that illuminate the deleterious effects of the Mommy Wars. With its pressures and associated stress to sustain idealized notions of motherhood there are catalytic overtones of bias associated with being a working mother and sometimes limit the upward mobility and overall life chances of mothers. For African American mothers, performing idealized motherhood is often overshadowed by the need to impose racial socialization in order to save their children’s lives and perhaps realize better life chances. These last points are of particular importance since participating in the academy as a parent is often motivated by the promise of enhanced social status for our children but tempered by the uncertain availability of opportunity and resources widely enjoyed by wealthy white parents whose power, privilege, and money gain them access even in the absence of proven talent or intelligence among their children. These constant reminders are “harsh lessons in the limits of meritocracy.” I’ve had to come to terms with the exponential impacts that parenting as a woman of color first-generation member of the academy might have on “success” and the realities I face for effective navigation beyond this marginalized self-identity. Success may be factored out across multiple generations.
7 Learned Lessons I share with my children as a Parent who aspires for Academy Membership
Lesson 1: To help insure best outcomes, always know that I will do my best as a parent, first to listen to my children and to be responsive to their thoughts and feelings rather than perform as an authoritarian, militaristic parent who holds them to strict behavioral responsibilities without practical outlet and support as was sometimes historically true for black families including my own. Secondly, I recognize I must be present as much in their life as possible (school, sports games, school plays, at home when not in work or school, etc.) so they understand how important their place is in the family.
Lesson 2: As early in life as possible, seek out and join support networks and friends who share mutual ambitions in academic and professional and life goals. The skill and outcome gained in doing so is a critical tool in advancing academically as well as professionally and may make the real difference in numerous ways. If one such network does not exist, create one.
Lesson 3: Refuse to accept the limitations that others will try to impose on you based on your social status, identity, or perceived mischaracterizations. You cannot control that there will be naysayers or “haters”. But you can manage how impactful their presence may be.
Lesson 4: Avoid feelings associated with the Imposter Syndrome. Know that you are good enough and you can do it no matter what others may and will tell you. Surround yourself with powerful examples such as our former First Lady, Michelle Obama or similar powerhouse people who had humble beginnings. We may never “catch-up” in terms of the generations of stolen/lost talent and cash, but you belong and deserve to be here.
Lesson 5: Though it sometimes lacks high monetary compensation, don’t shy away from the social sciences as a career choice. We parents of color are a critical part of the discourse to identify and provide solutions that adequately address the constellation of social injustices that limit people’s life chances. As Dr. Tiffany Davis from University of Houston explains in an NCID article: “women of color can be change agents by working toward systemic and sustainable institutional, organizational, and cultural change”
Lesson 6: Practice deliberate self-care as often is necessary by being kind and gentle with yourself and with those around you, and by engaging in meaningful and restorative activities such as meditation, prayer, exercise, scheduled leisure and vacation time, as well other suggested strategies by mental health experts.
Lesson 7: Pay It Forward. Never look down others who struggle at self-defining moments. Instead, help comrades who are struggling with the obvious signs they are at or may be headed for one or more elements that usually form the intersection of oppression (racism, sexism, classism) not only in ways that are tangible but as well, through positive emotional support such as active mentorship, guidance, and encouragement.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those named
Angela M. Johnson is a Senior Outreach Specialist for the Multicultural Health program at Michigan Medicine and a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity. Dr. Angela Johnson is an applied social scientist whose expertise and training reflects experience as an research scholar, practitioner, and published author in the area of maternal health and breastfeeding disparities. She is currently developing a community-based intervention designed to address barriers to optimal perinatal health and well-being among community women in Washtenaw county.
