The Resonance of May: Maternal Mental Health Through the Eyes of a Woman of Color

The Resonance of May: Maternal Mental Health Through the Eyes of a Woman of Color

By Shamella Joy

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I am the reinforced resilience that vibrates through the month of May—a tone that carries a weight many do not see. I am not just the gentle acknowledgment of a mother’s weary heart; for a Woman of Color, I am a compelling, more persistent beat. I am the echo of generations who whispered their struggles in the shadows, their hurt compounded by systems that were never built to support them. 

Maternal Mental Health Month is often framed as a time for awareness—a chance to talk about sleepless nights, postpartum depression, and the mental load of motherhood. But for women of color, it is something intense, layered, and more crucial. 

I feel the additional burdens that settle on already weary shoulders. I am the awareness that sleepless nights aren’t only about a newborn’s cries, but also the quiet yet ever present anxiety of navigating a world that doesn’t always see us, doesn’t always hear us. I am the understanding that postpartum body changes are viewed through lenses shaped by societal biases and that often clash with our cultural realities. Those hormonal shifts? They can feel like a storm raging within a body already strained by inequity. 

I am the glaring statistic—the uncomfortable truth—whispering of the disproportionately high rates of postpartum depression and anxiety among Black, Indigenous, and other women of color. But I am also the profound outcry against the silence that keeps these mothers from receiving the culturally responsive care they so urgently need. I am the frustration of disregarded pleas, the exhausted sigh of a mother whose lived experience is dismissed or misunderstood. 

Yet, I am more than just awareness. I am a demand for change, a shattering of generational chains of unspoken suffering and stigma. I am the resolve that a mother’s mental well-being is not a luxury, not a fleeting concern, but the very foundation upon which healthy families and thriving communities are built. 

Through the voice and experience of a Woman of Color, I am a call to action: 

• I am the held space in silenced circles, the permission to voice truths that have long been stifled—the overwhelm that feels like drowning, the grief that shadows joy, and the raw edges of survival. 

• I am the unwavering advocate, knocking insistently on doors to demand access to care that sees our full selves, honors our histories, and respects our unique ways of being in this world. 

• I am the love of community healing, the understanding nod across shared experiences, the strength found in collective support. 

But I am also a celebration—a testament to the strength etched into our very being. I am the echo of the mothers who came before us, who carried unimaginable burdens with nothing but their inner courage and determination. I am the paving of a new path, one where seeking help is not viewed as weakness, but as an act of profound courage and self-preservation. 

For me, and for many others who share this experience, Maternal Mental Health Month is both personal and collective. It is a pause—a moment to reflect on the journeys we’ve walked and the acceptance that we still have a ways to go. It is a renewed commitment to ensuring that no mother—especially no mother who shares this hue of skin—ever feels alone in her darkness or silenced in the telling of her truth. 

To every mother who carries this identity, know this: I am your advocate. I honor the strength within you, the battles you’ve fought, and those still to come. And in this month of May—and every month thereafter—I walk fiercely alongside you in the fight for a world where mental health equity is not just an aspiration, but a lived reality.