From sinners to saints and back again: Mother figures in selected novels by contemporary African-American women

My thesis examines the role and purpose of the "Mama" figure in selected works of fiction by contemporary African-American women writers. The "Mama" figure originates in African-American slave culture. It has been used in the twentieth century---by white American culture and by African-American culture itself---to build a tradition of representing African-American families and the women who head them. I present a brief survey of the scholarship about motherhood and mother figures, and I expand on the historical background in order to illuminate her importance in African-American culture. Through this historical connection, I also explain the prevalence of "Mama" figures in contemporary African-American literature.; The passing down of traditions in African cultures, as Gay Wilentz points out, has been traditionally considered to be an integral part of the process of "mothering." From this background, one begins to glimpse the historical importance of the mother's role to cultures of the African diaspora and, thereby, to African-American culture. Stereotypes and images of the mother that emerged both from slavery and from immigration to urban centers have had an impact on how mothers and motherhood in African-American culture are viewed. These stereotypes, and the effect they have had on Black mothers' lives in America, are being addressed and critiqued through the creation of new mother figures in contemporary fiction by Black women. My study explores the influence of previous mother figures and stereotypes on the development of contemporary mother figures that are emerging in works of fiction by African-American writers Tom Morrison, Ntozake Shange, Gloria Naylor, and Alice Walker. I examine how, as modern women, these writers are choosing to embrace and engage with the power of their ancestral mothers, and how they are revising and writing against this cultural tradition.