Representations of natural disasters in Black Southern literature identify social location as the greatest indicator of risk vulnerability. Moreover, they can expose the precarious subjectivity of the Black female reproductive body, as addressed through characters Lulu in Richard Wright’s “Down by the Riverside,” Janie in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Jesmyn Ward’s Esch in Salvage the Bones. Together, these female characters share a legacy of social marginalization and Black female resistance that is (re)shaped through their experiences with ecological catastrophe. This thesis considers these three texts together as an ongoing testimony and as a means to bear witness to a socio-historical record of disaster oppression and Black female resistance.

The maternal mortality rate in the USA is the highest in the industrialized world. Black women in the USA are three times more likely to die due to pregnancy and childbirth-related health issues than their white counterparts. According to 2017–2019 data from the CDC, 80% of these deaths are preventable.The purpose of this thesis is to understand how women’s bodily autonomy is both racialized and politicized. Key questions here are: What is the relationship between access to healthcare and reproductive rights? How are reproductive rights racialized? How is bodily autonomy racialized and politicized?This research is based on a literature review and a case study of the documentary Aftershock, released in July 2022. Aftershock charts the deaths of two young Black American women after they gave birth and shows how their partners and families stood together and became effective activists determined to fight the Black maternal mortality epidemic in the US, and thereby increase awareness and bring about change in society.