Quotes from Black women published in seven major U.S. newspapers in year 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic

In this dataset is a compilation of quotes of Black women commenting on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects during the period of March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. The dataset identifies and codes 300 quotes from Black women taken from 119 articles from seven major U.S. newspapers: The New York Times (102 quotes, 41 articles), The Washington Post (82 quotes, 31 articles), the LA Times (33 quotes, 13 articles), USA Today (26 quotes, 6 articles), Chicago Tribune (23 quotes, 8 articles), Philadelphia Inquirer (18 quotes, 10 articles), and The Wall Street Journal (16 quotes, 10 articles). A codebook was used to analyze the quotes; quotes could be assigned multiple codes. This analysis revealed the women focused on the following topics: health (41.7%, n=125 quotes), justice (41.7%, n=125 quotes), economic (28.7%, n=86 quotes), politics (22.7%, n=68 quotes), family (21%, n=63 quotes), education (11.0%, n=33 quotes), and the arts (8.0%, n=24 quotes). Additionally, the quotes revealed the following frames: morality (76.7%, n=230 quotes), attribution (41.7%, n=125 quotes), strong Black woman (41.3%, n=124 quotes), conflict (38.0%, n=114 quotes), economics frame (32.0%, n=96 quotes), Black mother (13.3%, n=40 quotes), angry Black woman (7.7%, n=23 quotes), and intersectionality first frame (7.3%, n=22 quotes). The quotes were analyzed for three types of sources: expert (62.7%, n=188 quotes), lay (21.7%, n=65 quotes), and government (17%, n=51 quotes). In a secondary analysis using Black Feminist Theory, the analysis revealed that in the pandemic’s first year, Black women’s experiences included: identifying interlocking systems of oppression, resisting interlocking systems of oppression through self-definition and self-valuation, and activism for the survival of the community, and expressing Black womanhood and motherhood. This analysis reveals that the media can be leveraged by Black women to increase awareness of their experiences and advocate for actions to reduce the disparities they face.