Black motherhood has always captured the public imagination in America, even outside of the confines of our favorite shows, movies, and books. Historically, Black womanhood has been inseparable from motherhood, with Black female slaves expected to have children in order to create more slaves, and later relegated to domestic labor that included midwifery and childcare. Within our own communities, Black women are often expected to be emotionally nurturing to everyone around them. Today, Black moms like Sybrina Fulton, Lezley McSpadden , and Gwen Carr — who all lost their children to gun violence within the past decade — have been used as symbols of the effects of an unchecked gun policy in the United States and the fraught relationship between Black communities and the police. On the other end of the spectrum, mothers like Beyoncé and Serena Williams are held in wonderment for being so talented and beautiful in the face of their parental responsibilities. From perfection to pain, perceptions of Black motherhood are either/or, and entertainment has followed suit.