Although I am not usually the type of person to care too much about celebrity pregnancy reveals, I could hardly contain my excitement on February first of this year when I saw that Beyoncé had posted a maternity photo to Instagram. Beyoncé's first photo revealed that she is expecting twins. Now, while I have always been a Beyoncé fan, my reaction to her announcement wasn't entirely rooted in the superficial happiness one gets for celebrities they don't know. Instead, I felt like I was witnessing all types of #BlackGirlMagic.
First and foremost, Beyoncé's choice to reveal her pregnancy on the first day of Black History Month matters. In doing so, she decided and demonstrated that her pregnancy, a subject so historically difficult and painful for Black women, is to be acknowledged as a historic Black event from that day forward. Pregnancy is a difficult subject for Black women because often, it hasn't been our choice. From cotton plantations to disenfranchised, segregated projects, Black women have historically experienced pregnancy as a result of rape or forced breeding during slavery, or as an unintended result of lack of birth control and access to proper sex education after emancipation. Furthermore, far too many Black women were forced into economic situations requiring them to be nannies or whet nurses to middle class white children instead of their own. The historical context I've provided here is meant in no way to imply that women whose children were the results of unplanned pregnancy or even conceived through rape didn't love their children or anticipate their births with joy. It is simply to acknowledge that the subject of pregnancy, for Black women, has often been linked with traumatic experiences and pain. Unfortunately, common narratives about Black motherhood have focused solely on the negative aspects of Black women's relationships with their children, and created racist stereotypes about Black mothers as abusive, aggressive, or neglectful.
When Beyoncé posted her photo, crowned in flowers and embracing themes of Yoruban culture (the Yoruba people are an ethnic group of Nigeria) she directly challenged the historic narrative I mentioned above. She emphasized that Black motherhood also means gentleness, happiness, and patience. She forced her audience to recognize Black women as being more than media portrayals and stereotypes. Time and time again Beyoncé has used imagery of her own mother or her child to reconstruct understandings of Black motherhood. She has forced the world to acknowledge Black women as sensitive, nurturing, thoughtful people, and reminded us all what Black Girl Magic really is.
