"Brave.
A chronicle of pain, loss, and infidelity, Mama Bear is ultimately a story of love--a celebration of community, family, faith, healing, the maternal bond, and one woman\'s indomitable spirit..
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.
The one who kept it together for everybody, she had always put herself second.
Like many Black women, Shirley was raised to believe that pain is a sign of weakness. endured to save their daughter, and her continual struggles to support her family while nurturing herself.
R.
Shirley chronicles the emotional and physical battle she and J.
Tennis champion Serena Williams experienced life-threatening complications during childbirth, and Beyoncé suffered toxemia with her premature twins.
Neither socioeconomic status nor access to quality healthcare seem to matter.
Black mothers are twice as likely as their white counterparts to go into labor prematurely and lose their babies--and almost four times as likely to die giving birth.
In telling her story, written with Zelda Lockhart, Shirley shines a spotlight on the dangers Black women face during pregnancy.
Mama Bear is the story of her 141-day ordeal, from entering a hospital emergency room on New Year\'s morning and giving birth to her premature newborn, to taking her daughter home for the first time the following May.
Only 21-weeks pregnant, she was in labor.
After dinner, Shirley felt a sharp pain that worsened through the night.
Smith, looked forward to the birth of their second child, Dakota, as they celebrated New Year\'s Eve with family at home.
R.
Shirley Smith and her husband, NBA champion J.
Smith, tells the story of giving birth to one of the youngest premature babies to survive--using her experience to heighten awareness of the crisis of Black maternal and infant health and pay tribute to Black women\'s resilience.
R. " --Gabrielle Union Wade, actress and New York Times bestselling author In this moving memoir, Shirley Smith , wife of NBA Champion and All-Star J.
Provocative.
Compelling. "Brave
