by: Paris Wilson
The Black matriarch is known for being the foundation of families and the overall community. The role changes through the generations but remains fixed in its common characteristics. The matriarch is known for its central role in the family and often works as a mediator and confidant. The selflessness that is exercised to ensure the family’s needs are met before theirs. This is often an undervalued characteristic, as it is often seen as expected instead of having gratitude exercised towards the vigilant and constant care.
Oftentimes, the care for black matriarchs go unnoticed. It comes too late when they are up in age and find themselves in need of help from their families in ways that hadn’t been imagined before given their status as pillars. All pillars must come down one day, only to be replaced by another. The matriarch’s duties are just pushed off onto the next generation, where dealing with other folks’ issues becomes a constant focal point.
So, who is there for the matriarchs? No one. They don’t even have time to be there for themselves.
Depression has always been pushed under the rug by the black community until recently. With the spotlight that has been cast on mental illness, we are being able to create these safe spaces and develop these conversations to have with the younger generation about their mental health and emotional awareness. These same tactics that we are using for younger people can be used for older adults if we can dismantle the stigmatization that is developed around depression and mental illness as a whole. In the past we have made those that have suffered mental illnesses outliers in the community. With the church being a place of worship and community, the lessons and sermons that are given often extend to social, political, and medical decisions in the African American community. According to Tracy Wharton, “community-based interventions are poised to address disparities in mental health care among older adults; however, there is a dearth of evidence on existing mental health infrastructures and social systems to support African
American elders within a church context. Because of a preference among older adults to utilize the trusted services of pastoral counseling over professional mental health services (Hankerson & Weissman, 2012), clergy often act as gatekeepers for more specialized and formal mental health treatment”.
African Americans have always been a marginalized group in this country, we know this. The lack of resources that they have been unable to obtain has been able to aid in the mishandling of their physical and mental wellbeing. In a 2010 study, it was noted that 20.8% of African Americans are uninsured. Without the proper medical insurance and care, these treatments that are readily available can not be obtained by a group that needs them. According to a study done by the CDC found that 4% of women are more likely to report major depression than Whites and of those findings, African American women were leading the charge.
African American women are in a unique position where they are a “double minority”. Being a part of two groups that are largely marginalized: the black community and women. Their experiences and trauma are coming from multiple sources.
The list is always extending for the ever-present yet repressed positions held by Black women in society. Much of the cultural burdens are placed on black women as every role they fill is met with some form of resistance from another party. With work or school, they are told to repress their afro-centric physiques and adopt European beauty ideals to seem “approachable” or “professional”. In motherhood, they are often pushed off with fulfilling the role of single mothers with 64% of African-American children being raised in single-parent households in 2019.
The role of the black matriarch is one that doesn’t change, but we can change the way in which we treat them. We see this shift now in our healthcare system, Tracy Wharton notes that “the needs of older adults are also at the forefront of changing health-care policy. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ initiative to improve the nation’s health, Healthy People 2020, has prioritized increasing community-based and culturally appropriate interventions for the prevention of physical and mental illness”. To be black and female in society was once written off as a curse, but now it is being re established with worth and power. Solidarity and support helped us to establish this change, now we must be able to extend the same support to our black matriarchs through our revitalization of healthcare care policies with them in mind.