“Everybody else sucked it up, so I will too”: Healthcare experiences and resilience of Black mothers

Black women in the United States experience maternal mortality rates three to four times higher than White women. While most of these deaths are preventable, little attention has been paid to how Black women interpret and navigate their perinatal experiences within structural and cultural contexts. Guided by Black feminist thought (BFT) and the strong Black woman (SBW) trope, this qualitative study explores how Black mothers interpret their experiences with pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, extending beyond clinical outcomes to capture how care is experienced and interpreted. Employing thematic analysis on interviews with 30 Black mothers at two months postpartum, we find that patient-centered communication is central to trust, autonomy, and perceived quality of care. The SBW trope shaped participants emotional expression and help-seeking behaviors, functioning simultaneously as a coping resource and a barrier to vulnerability. Participants also highlighted gaps in postpartum care and called for more continuous, culturally responsive, and relational models of care. By centering Black women’s lived experiences, this study extends maternal health research beyond deficit-based frameworks and identities structural intervention points. BFT and the SBW trope offers us a critical lens for understanding how intersecting systems of oppression and cultural expectations shape Black maternal health experiences and outcomes.