Anna Malaika Tubbs

Or they might even hide the fact that they have children at work so that they're still taken seriously rather than seen as distracted.

And they will not receive credit for the accomplishments of the loved ones they have supported day in and day out, because our retelling of events doesn't feature the many acts of mothering.

Beyond such instances being frustrating, I believe they lead to a lack of understanding surrounding the critical roles mothers play in our society.

And they contribute to a lack of support for mothers,

If the stories we tell, both on an interpersonal level as well as in literature and in media, deem mothers as unimportant, as unworthy of being seen and considered, then these opinions will be reflected in the way that mothers are treated in our country.

It is not a surprise, then, that in the US, we have yet to establish universal parental leave, universal, quality, affordable childcare, that we are experiencing a maternal mortality crisis, and that many mothers had no other choice but to leave the workforce as a result of the pandemic.

Such tragedies have a ripple effect that also hurts our children, our communities, even our national economy.

As a writer and sociologist, I believe that storytelling plays a necessary role in fixing our current trajectory.

That through the intentional centering of mothers, we can not only make life better for them, we can actually make life better for everyone.

The way to get organizations and our government to give mothers the resources that they desperately need and deserve is to first shift our perspective of motherhood on a cultural level.

I am on a mission for that shift to happen in my lifetime, especially for mothers of color who have historically received the least resources.

I have spent the last several years studying three women in particular whose life stories show, number one, just how easily we disregard mothers, and number two, how a lack of consideration for their needs and their contributions leads to a lack of intervention and support.

While it may be too late to help the three of them, I believe their life stories provide guidance on how we can make the world better for moms and everyone they impact today.

So let's first go back to Alberta King.

Alberta was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1903, to the leaders of Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Even as a young girl, she was an activist.

She participated in marches and in boycotts, and she even joined her parents as some of the very first members of the NAACP.

She believed that Christian faith must always be intertwined with social justice, and she used her education to advance freedom causes.

Alberta grew up to be a talented organizer and a musician, as well as a mother of three.

Before meeting her husband, Alberto was on her path to becoming an educator.