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.

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Books

We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood

In We Live for the We, first-time mother Dani McClain sets out to understand how to raise her daughter in what she, as a black woman, knows to be an unjust–even hostile–society. Black women are more likely to die during pregnancy or birth than any other race; black mothers must stand before television cameras telling the world that their slain children were human beings. What, then, is the best way to keep fear at bay and raise a child so she lives with dignity and joy?

“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

I Never Felt Like a ‘Single’ Parent. Then the Coronavirus Hit.

Apr 8, 2020

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

Mar 30, 2020

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

Dec 3, 2019

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

Nov 21, 2019

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.