Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood Is Not a Class Privilege in America

Kreps and Lyndhurst Galleries
April 17–June 30, 2006


RECEPTION

Reception and Curator's Talk: May 4, 6–9 p.m.
Presentation by Rickie Solinger at 7 p.m.

For more than a generation, politicians have debated whether women who live in poverty in the United States and have children are irresponsible and selfish, and make bad mothers. At the beginning of the twenty-first century most Americans have, in one way or another, embraced the notion that motherhood is a privilege reserved for people with enough money to give their children advantages. What are the implications and consequences for our country when so many of us believe that motherhood is an experience most properly reserved for “independent,” middle-class women? What images and information are we missing when we come to these conclusions? This traveling show of photographs, curated by historian Rickie Solinger, pictures the complexities of being a mother in contemporary America if you’re young or poor; if you’re on the streets or disabled; if you’re unprotected, in prison, or alone.

For more background on the exhibit: www.beggarsandchoosers.org




Discipline, by Amy Toesing. From Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood Is Not a Class Privilege in America.





banner image:

Partial view of the Lyndhurst Gallery, one of four exhibition spaces at CDS. Photograph by Christoper Sims.


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