This collaborative auto‐ethnography provides an account of the sociohistorical context of Black mothering in the United States and highlights how our complex, intersectional identities as Black‐(other)mother‐scholars shape our cultivation of the homeplace—a place where Black children are nurtured as “subjects, not objects,” in a society that aims to dominate black bodies. Drawing on Black feminism and Black Woman's Geographies, we document how time at home with our children during COVID‐19 allowed for critical dialogue regarding racial injustice and exposure to culturally sustaining educational content endeavored toward resilience building. This work highlights the strength of Black mothers’ collective experiences in fostering resilience amidst crises. Societal implications of COVID‐19 amidst ongoing racial traumas reify the need to reclaim not only our time as Black mothers, but also our voice, agency, and the spaces we cultivate for Black children's liberation. We also discuss recommendations for amplifying Black mothers’ voices in education policy efforts such that schools are better prepared to serve Black children.

Scholars have begun to address how exposure to vicarious racial violence influences stress and coping processes among Black families in the U.S. Yet, fewer scholars have considered the importance of racial grief as a component of the coping process. The current study drew upon semi-structured interview data from 31 Black mothers in the U.S. (25-52 years; M age = 35 years) to explore how mothers processed and responded to vicarious anti-Black racial violence. We used consensual qualitative research methods and identified the following themes: (a) recognizing the endemic nature of racial violence, (b) feeling frozen in fear after a new case of racial violence, and (c) transforming grief into grievance as a route to racial justice. The findings contextualize Black mothers' concerns about the racial violence that they and their children might experience during their lifetime, and how they channel this grief into actionable change against racial injustice. Authors discuss strengths-based ways to frame the role of grief and loss in the context of racism.

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Black women have historically informed educational theory and practice. As Black women who have been nurtured and sustained by Black women's educational leadership both inside and outside the home, and who mother and "othermother" Black children, we seek to recognize and honor the labor of Black women. Motherwork, a term coined by Patricia Hill Collins, refers to the "reproductive labor" that women of color engage in to ensure the survival of family, community, and self. Black women center their motherwork on Black children by asserting their knowledge and experiences as related to teaching and learning. In this paper, we explore Black mothering as culturally sustaining pedagogy. We also reimagine and dream about our Black children's possibilities for learning. Through this work, we seek to center Black mothers as knowledge bearers and guides for building and sustaining Black children's brilliance and culture. We contend that Black mothering should be of foremost consideration in developing culturally sustaining pedagogy.

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