Letter scheme aims to give voice to black mums

African-Caribbean mothers in Leeds have been sharing their experiences as part of a research project into black family life in the UK.

Academics at Leeds Beckett University want to use the information they gain from the scheme to give people working with families a better insight into communities and to challenge negative perceptions.

Mums who were invited to discuss their feelings around parenting each wrote a letter to their daughter about the things they wished they had known as a child.

Dominique Belgrave, 31, from Woodhouse, said she had written to her four-year-old daughter, Imaani, and told her: "I never wanted you to be any more or less than what you are, because you are enough."

Imaani was born with what is known as a chromosome deletion and has some developmental delays.

Ms Belgrave said she felt she had sometimes been ignored when navigating Imaani's diagnosis.

She said: "I feel like you have to probably approach the same thing on multiple occasions, have to say the same thing more than once to be heard.

"I feel like what you're saying is not necessarily taken at face value.

"I think it's a case of, someone else tries to tell you what your experiences are. No, that's not what happened. That's not what you're feeling.”

Dionne Cummings, 44, from Rothwell, a mum of five children aged between seven and 18, has also taken part in the project.

In her letter to her 10-year-old daughter, Alexis, she said: "You, my darling, are unapologetically yourself. Fearlessly advocating for what is right, and just."

Ms Cummings said being part of the letter-writing project had been emotional.

However, she explained that it was important to "put the perspectives of mothers in society and change the narrative".

"When you are a mother bringing up a child, especially when you are of ethnic minority being black, you sometimes get unfair disadvantages," she said.

"When I was younger, I was told if you're black you have to work twice as hard as your counterparts in order to do well and succeed in life.

"I don't want to have that same narrative for her and I want to change that. I want her to realise what she can achieve, and how amazing she is."

Most research into black motherhood has been done in America, but members of the team at Leeds Beckett University said they wanted to get a better understanding of the British experience.

They are collating information from the workshops and letters to create resources that will be shared with people who work with families such as medical professionals, teachers and social workers.

Shirleeccia Ward, from Leeds Beckett University, said: "What I'm hoping for is to give them an insight, so they can have a little bird's-eye view, some inside information as to how these families function when they're not under the microscope."

Ms Ward explained: "I wanted to do the research to give a voice to African-Caribbean mothers about their experience.

"I felt as though there was a massive gap in literature about them from their perspective.

"When the women themselves give the information, it means there is another depth."

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