Document Detail


The first welfare case: money, sex, marriage, and white supremacy in Selma, 1966: a reproductive justice analysis.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20857590     Owner:  HMD     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
King v. Smith, the first welfare case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, overturned the Alabama substitute father law. Such laws directed or allowed welfare officials to use the sexual behavior and reproductive capacity of poor African American women to alienate this population from "cash-money"; to reassert political and bureaucratic control over the intimate relationships of African Americans, demonstrating that this population was unprepared for civil rights and full citizenship; and to shore up white supremacy in the civil rights era. The context for this case which originated in Selma, Alabama in 1966 illustrates that even if poor African American women had had access to contraception and legal abortion at that time, they would still have lacked reproductive autonomy and dignity as the state surveilled their sexual behavior and enforced laws making sex, itself, as well as reproduction, and the right to define their own intimate relationships and families, a race and class privilege.
Authors:
Rickie Solinger
Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of women's history     Volume:  22     ISSN:  1042-7961     ISO Abbreviation:  J Womens Hist     Publication Date:  2010  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-09-21     Completed Date:  2010-12-30     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  100968143     Medline TA:  J Womens Hist     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  13-38     Citation Subset:  Q    
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
African Americans* / education,  ethnology,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence,  psychology
Alabama / ethnology
Contraceptive Agents* / history
Family Relations / ethnology,  legislation & jurisprudence
History, 20th Century
Humans
Population Surveillance
Public Assistance / economics,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence
Race Relations / history,  legislation & jurisprudence,  psychology
Reproduction*
Social Welfare* / economics,  ethnology,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence,  psychology
Spouses / education,  ethnology,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence,  psychology
Supreme Court Decisions* / history
United States / ethnology
Women's Health / economics,  ethnology,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence
Women's Rights* / economics,  education,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Contraceptive Agents

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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