Mothering modes: analyzing mother roles in novels by twentieth-century United States women writers

Acknowledgements 
I wish to thank my parents, Benjamin and Linda Whitfield, for their love, 
encouragement, inspiration, support, and love of the Lord. Together, they are the solid 
foundation on which I was and am still able to stand. I would truly like to thank my 
husband, Johnnie McDaniels, for his monumental love, saintly patience, undying 
motivation, editing skills, childcare knowledge, and household management. He must 
have originated in some truly ethereal space. I would also like to thank my family, 
especially my sister Benetta Whitfield and my best friend Aria Elise Thorns, for their 
excitement about my pursuit of this degree and their inquiries along the way. Certainly, 
this project would not have been completed without the undying support and effective 
guidance of Dr. Michelle Massé, my major professor, who is truly a patient and 
motivating spirit. Thanks goes to my insightful committee members Drs. Richard 
Moreland, Dana Williams, Nghana T. Lewis, and John Lowe (who is also my teaching 
mentor and my dear friend). I am so thankful for those who gave their time to read and 
edit my work: Angela Robinson, C. Leigh McInnis (both have been in my life since my 
undergraduate days), Drs. Wanda Morgan, and Ladrica Menson Furr (who is also my 
motivator and my friend). At Jackson State, I would like to thank Herd Graves, Kennith 
Patterson (deceased), Drs. Inez R. Morris Chambers, Iely G. Mohamed, Doris O. Ginn, 
B. Dilla Buckner, Sakinah Rashied, Sarah Banks and Loria Brown and my students for 
their support and encouragement. Definitely, I must thank Drs. Marie O’Banner-Jackson, 
Randall G. Patterson, Toni A. H. McNaron, Maria L. A. Harvey, and Annie J. Cistrunk, 
who have wonderfully mentored my mind since the day I met them. I simply cannot
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forget the sister-friends who have been there for me throughout this undertaking: Betty 
Johnson, Shalonda Simoneax, Hazel Jenkins, Elizabeth Davis, Mattie Stevens, Doris 
Smith, Cenovia Burns, Ladonna Gulley, Lisa Raggs, Keena Richard, Drs. Carla Gray, 
Tara Green, Stephanie Hall, LaJuan Simpson, and my cousins Sanderia Smith, MFA, and 
Jean Camille Hall, ABD. Along this winding road of pursuit, I have made contact with 
many helpful librarians and so many other significant people who have warmed my spirit 
in some way. I thank God for them, and I thank Him for you all.