Overview
āBrave. Compelling. Provocative. ā āGabrielle Union Wade, actress and New York Times bestselling author
In this moving memoir, Shirley Smith, wife of NBA Champion and All-Star J. R. Smith, tells the story of giving birth to one of the youngest premature babies to surviveāusing her experience to heighten awareness of the crisis of Black maternal and infant health and pay tribute to Black womenās resilience.
Shirley Smith and her husband, NBA champion J. R. Smith, looked forward to the birth of their second child, Dakota, as they celebrated New Yearās Eve with family at home. After dinner, Shirley felt a sharp pain that worsened through the night. Only 21-weeks pregnant, she was in labor. Mama Bear is the story of her 141-day ordeal, from entering a hospital emergency room on New Yearās morning and giving birth to her premature newborn, to taking her daughter home for the first time the following May.
In telling her story, written with Zelda Lockhart, Shirley shines a spotlight on the dangers Black women face during pregnancy. Black mothers are twice as likely as their white counterparts to go into labor prematurely and lose their babiesāand almost four times as likely to die giving birth. Neither socioeconomic status nor access to quality healthcare seem to matter. Tennis champion Serena Williams experienced life-threatening complications during childbirth, and BeyoncĆ© suffered toxemia with her premature twins.Ā
Shirley chronicles the emotional and physical battle she and J. R. endured to save their daughter, and her continual struggles to support her family while nurturing herself. Like many Black women, Shirley was raised to believe that pain is a sign of weakness. The one who kept it together for everybody, she had always put herself second. She parallels this difficult journey to her childhood growing up with an addict mother, and having to raise herself and her brother from a very young age.Ā
A chronicle of pain, loss, and infidelity, Mama Bear is ultimately a story of loveāa celebration of community, family, faith, healing, the maternal bond, and one womanās indomitable spirit.Ā
This book title, Mama Bear (One Black Mother's Fight for Her Child's Life and Her Own), ISBN: 9780063010789, by Shirley Smith, published by HarperCollins (September 14, 2021) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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