Love, Guilt, and Coming Home: 3 Mamas share their journeys

Posted courtesy of SPARK Reproductive Justice Now

Echoing Ida is pleased to share these encouraging and profound interviews with Southern Black women who are making waves, changing lives, and keeping their families strong. We are grateful to be able to post and link to these interviews courtesy of SPARK. Read below to be inspired, teary, and ready to take action.


For Mary Hooks, raising her daughter and changing the world is all in a day’s work! She is an organizer for Southerners on New Ground (SONG) — an organization that engages in grassroots efforts with queer people, people of color, immigrants, undocumented people, people with disabilities, working class, rural and small town communities, and their allies throughout the South to make sustainable social change. Her 5-month old daughter, Porter, joins her on the road connecting with people who are redefining the region for vulnerable communities. At home, Mary proudly shares space with an amazing group of friends that infuse service to their neighborhood as a daily practice. In fact, they will hand out gifts to women living in the West End community of Atlanta, GA this Sunday for Mother’s Day.

In SPARK's Mama’s Day interview she dishes on birthing with support, the "sacred no," self love, and movement-supported parenting. Check out her powerful interview here!

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Raised in South Carolina, Tracee McDaniel left the South seeking community as a transsexual woman only to return years later more in love with her family and southern roots. Tracee is the founder of Juxtaposed Center for Transformation Incorporated--an Atlanta based advocacy, consulting, and social services referral organization working to improve the quality of life for all Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming community members. She shares her incredible journey, activism, wisdom for families, and newly published book Transitions: Memoirs of a Transsexual Woman with SPARK during their Mama’s Day celebration with Strong Families!

Check out the full interview where Tracee talks about re-building familial relationships, a mother's guilt, and coming home.

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Marilynn Winn is the extraordinary strategist behind Atlanta 9to5’s Ban the Box campaign that ensures employment opportunities for Georgia’s formerly incarcerated family members. She is also starting a new organization called Women on the Rise led by women impacted by incarceration both in and outside of prison. This Mama’s Day we celebrate Winn’s wisdom and loving energy with an intimate sit-down interview where we discuss family, tips for mothers, and how our society can support mothers and families beyond the holiday.

Read the full interview where Marilyn shares advice for feeling empowered after incarceration and maintaining dignity through adversity.

This blog post is part of the Strong Families Mama’s Day Our Way celebration. You can read more posts in the series on the Strong Families blog. Strong Families is a national initiative led by Forward Together. Our goal is to change the way people think, act and talk about families.