<em>“All I Do is Win . . . No Matter What”: Low-Income, African American Single Mothers and their Collegiate Daughters’ Unrelenting Academic Achievement</em>

Abstract

In 1965 Daniel Moynihan, on behalf of United States, declared single-mothered home the source of most of aberrant, inadequate, or anti-social behavior that . . . serves to perpetuate cycle of poverty and deprivation (p. 30) among African Americans. Damning family a matriarchy, Moynihan (1965) fueled charred minds of national constituents concerned with Negro woman's familial position and alleged dominance. Fifty years later, scholars extoll single-mothers as stalwart household leaders (Jones et al., 2007) fostering independence (Mandara, Varner, & Richman, 2010), resilience (Billingsley, 1974; Brodsky, 2000), and strength (Hill, 1999; Turnage, 2004), particularly among their daughters (J. W. Scott, 1993; K. Scott, 2003; Shook et al., 2010).While research exists unmasking African American single mothers, their likely trials, as well as their rearing 51% of African American children (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013), little research explains how these mothers instill academic excellence in their collegiate daughters. Without such an analysis we remain subject to superficial education policies and mis-educating African American children, which fosters a cyclical breeding ground for ineffective teaching practices, misunderstanding, and inequity. This article seeks to support recent research by exploring heretofore hidden affair between single-mothers' parenting acts and their daughter's unrelenting academic achievement. Essentially, this inquiry ascertains collegeenrolled daughters' interpretations of their African American single mother's parenting acts, and how they win despite confounding circumstances.BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHTHistorically, society has suppressed Black woman's notion of truth due to its lacking an association with a conceptually validated epistemological premise. Black Feminist Thought (Hill Collins, 1989) validates Black woman's lived experiences as unique, distinct, and knowledge-based, despite their incongruence with mainstream White masculine thought. Furthermore, Black Feminist Thought seeks to discredit dominant group metanarrative by rearticulating and validating view and interpretations of world through Black woman's culture and traditions. Theories are based on interests and cultural perceptions of its creator (Hill Collins, 1989); therefore, need for Black female scholars to research and interpret experiences of Black women. Such is framework from which this inquiry is based.THE LITERATUREAfrican American Single-MotherhoodAfrican American families encompass an estimated 9,808,000 households across nation, 37% of which are led by single mothers raising their own children (U. S. Census Bureau, 2013). Between 2010-2011 single African American women gave birth at rates twice as high as their married peers (U. S. Census, 2012), resulting in over 51% of these 11,086,000 children residing in single-mothered households (U. S. Census Bureau, 2013). These mothers, averaging 38.4 years of age (U. S. Census Bureau, 2013), unquestionably bear brunt of raising African American progeny.More than 49% of African American daughters are raised by their single mother (U. S. Census Bureau, 2013). Scholars declare mother-daughter relationship is one of strongest, closest, and most impactful in human relationships-greatly influencing daughter's self-esteem, autonomy, abstention from illicit substances and sex, family loyalty, and marriage among other factors (De La Rosa et al., 2010; Gilford & Reynolds, 2011; Merten & Henry, 2011; Morris, 2007; Townsend, 2008). Single African American mothers are noted for differentially socializing their sons and daughters, resulting in varying degrees of maturity. While sons are encouraged to exemplify egalitarianism, and permitted to embrace their household freedom, daughters assume increased household responsibilities, hold higher educational expectations, and endure abridged freedom (Mandara, Varner, & Richman, 2010). …