"Willing to go to Bat": A Thematic Analysis of Black Women's Activism Motivations and Engagement during the 2020 Racial Unrest

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to pervasive racial injustice in the United States ravaged the early 2020s. Black women often stand at the forefront of these activism efforts. Few studies have included examinations of activism motivations and behaviors using a gendered racial lens. Semi-structured interviews and qualitative thematic analysis were used to investigate Southern Black women's ( N = 16) participation in activism during the 2020 racial unrest, described as the interaction between sociopolitical conditions and emerging, grand-scale disease using intersectional qualitative inquiry. We uncovered eight thematic areas related to Black women's activism: (1) Mental Health Challenges and Preservation, (2) Emotional and Physical Proximity to Incidents of Injustice, (3) Family Background and Childhood Activism Socialization, (4) Inspiration from Historical Collective Action, (5) Hope and Futuristic Thinking, (6) Embracing Common Humanity, (7) Racial Pride and Gendered Racial Pride, and (8) Positional Guilt and Obligation. Informed by Black feminist thought and intersectionality theory, the implications for Black women's social-emotional and psychological well-being in research, practice, and policy are addressed.