"Watch what he chews": The maternal burden for lead poisoning in Baltimore, MD

Abstract

This master’s thesis takes a gendered lens in the examination of who has been historically blamed for Baltimore, Maryland’s lead poisoning epidemic. Using mixed qualitative methods, I investigate how the framing of lead poisoning as a “slum” and “minority” problem in newspaper media contributed to harmful class-based and racialized narratives of maternal responsibility that painted the mothers of leadpoisoned children as “careless,” “ignorant,” and “neglectful.” Such a form of scapegoating places the burden of preventing lead exposure on mothers, increasing their household labor, and overlooks broader contributors, such as lead companies and the inaction of state entities. This analysis highlights the need to challenge these narratives and reframe Baltimore’s lead poisoning epidemic to shift away from the individualization of responsibility, contributing to more equitable and intersectional environmental health discourse.