Dorothy Roberts on slavery, pregnancy, parenthood and the law
Weekly Program
Dorothy E. Roberts, professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and founding director of the Program on Race, Science & Society in the Center for Africana Studies.
In her lecture The Long Struggle to Abolish Reproductive Slavery, Roberts traces the denial of Black womens reproductive and parenting rights to a 19th century court case that decided the offspring of enslaved persons were considered like animals, without human rights, even if they were the children of the owner himself. Stopping mistreatment of Black families was a paramount issue of the abolitionist cause and a major reason behind the 13th and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution. But the hateful attitudes continued into modern times, and are underlying the idea that state law can dictate the terms of pregnancy and parenting, now confirmed by the US Supreme Court and applicable to all women.
The Rothko Chapel and the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Texas at Austin hosted this 2023 Frances Tarlton Sissy Farenthold Endowed Lecture in Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights on February 15, 2023. Edited for radio by Frieda Werden. Video of entire event here: https://rothkochapel.org/experience/events/event/dorothy-roberts-farenthold-lecture-2023
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service has been covering the global women's movement for community radio since 1986. More info: www.wings.org
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