dani mcclain
Dani McClain is a fellow at Type Media Center, author of We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood, and a contributing writer at The Nation who covers reproductive health. Her reporting and commentary on race, gender, policy and politics have appeared in outlets including Slate, Talking Points Memo, Al Jazeera America, Colorlines, Ebony, Guernica, and The Rumpus. Her work has been recognized by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. McClain was a staff reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and has worked as a strategist with organizations including Color of Change and Drug Policy Alliance.
Prior to earning her master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, McClain taught social studies at the nation’s first public Montessori high school and challenged racially discriminatory drug laws as a communications staffer at Drug Policy Alliance. She has a bachelor’s degree in history, also from Columbia.
Books
We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood
“Dani McClain is one of the most lucid, insightful, and gifted critics working today: her work sings with eloquence and is driven by analytical fury. This is the book we parents need right now!”—Michael Eric Dyson
Recent Work
How Black Parents Survived 2020
‘What kind of world did we bring them into?’
By Dani McClain in The New York Times.
How to Talk to Kids About Racism and Police
Schools do students a disservice when they fail to teach them about difficult issues.
By Dani McClain in The Atlantic.
A Co-op for Black and Multiracial Families ‘De-schools’ Children
Nine families shared with us why they chose to educate their children outside the traditional school system.
By Dani McClain in New York Times Parenting.
I Never Felt Like a ‘Single’ Parent. Then the Coronavirus Hit.
Unpartnered parents like me rely on support from other adults in our children’s lives. We need public health guidance that works for us.
By Dani McClain in The Nation.
How Black Expectant Mothers Can Prepare for Birth
Changes at doctor’s offices and hospitals are forcing Black moms-to-be to seek alternative ways to welcome their newborns.
By Dani McClain in Zora.
When the Clinics Close
As Planned Parenthoods shutter in Ohio, reproductive rights and justice groups are fighting harder than ever.
By Dani McClain in The Nation.
What’s Lost When Black Children Are Socialized Into a White World
I interviewed dozens of black mothers about how they help their kids navigate schools where they might be perceived as threats or made to feel unwelcome.
By Dani McClain in The Atlantic.
I Won’t Let Racism Rob My Black Child of Joy
As I prepared for the birth of my first child, I could already see that I would need a plan in order to avoid succumbing to fear.
By Dani McClain in TIME.
In “confirmation,” It’s Clear Senators Aimed to Make Us Distrust Anita Hill
The beauty of Confirmation is that it posits that this confused reception on the part of the American people was precisely what many who sat on the Senate judiciary committee and directed the hearings had in mind.
This “New” Feminism Has Been Here All Along
Our grandmothers showed us a bigger, better feminism with women’s rights, racial equity, and gender justice at its heart.