Abstract
Using historical analysis, textual analysis and communication studies, this chapter explores how Obama’s working-class background, family upbringing, her understanding of her Blackness and her knowledge of the maligning of Black girls and women informed her decision as First Lady to inhabit The Mom in Charge, Cult of True Motherhood and Cult of True Womanhood tropes. Seniors look at African American women, White supremacist feminists and the media’s response to Michelle Obama, and explore their reaction to her claiming these tropes.
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Seniors, P.M. (2018). Reconfiguring Black Motherhood: Michelle Obama and the “Mom-in-Charge Trope”. In: Duster, M., Seniors, P., Thevenin, R. (eds) Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92468-7_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92468-7_21
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92467-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92468-7
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