Radical Mothering was born out of the everyday lives of Mothers of the Kidnapped (part of the MAMAS Collective in Chicago), a group of primarily Black and Latiné working-class people who care for and defend incarcerated survivors of torture and frame-ups by the Chicago police. The more we center and politicize the collective practices of mother-activists, the closer we move toward a world without cages, without disposability, without state violence.
Created for people committed to ending the violence of police and prisons—but relevant to all liberation movements—this book affirms the everyday lives of those who persevere in love and struggle in the face of carceral violence and the pain it inflicts. The stories of these grassroots visionaries are at once steadfast, resourceful, and revelatory. A living toolkit for teaching and organizing, illustrations throughout the book provide readers with accessible entry points into the framework of Radical Mothering, supporting its application in real-life educational, organizational, and community contexts.
ISBN: 9798888908822
Publication date: September 1, 2026
Radical Mothering imparts vital knowledge, depicting how the prison industrial complex does its deadly work and illuminating our most potent tools to fight back.”
—Maya Schenwar, coeditor, We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition
“This beautiful book . . . will crack our hearts open and transform how we think, how we strategize, how we care, and how we build a new world.”
—Paula Rojas, midwife and community organizer, Embody Transformation
“Radical Mothering . . . reminds us that the home, the family, and the everyday labor of mothering are frontline battlegrounds, and a place where abolitionist futures are taking shape.”
—C. Hope Tolliver, coeditor, How to End Family Policing: From Outrage to Action
“Radical Mothering is a compelling story of feminist collective action by women of color and a useful abolition toolkit for our communities.”
—Beth Richie, coauthor, Abolition. Feminism. Now.
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