Why I Focus on Black Women's Health: History, Culture, & Advocacy

At The Pink and The Black, our mission has always been clear: to center the voices, experiences, and health of women, especially Black women, who too often find themselves at the margins of medical research, policy, and practice. My decision to design and teach community-centered women’s health courses is not simply academic; it is a response to history, culture, and the urgent realities of our time.

The Historical Landscape of Women's Health

For centuries, women’s health was defined not by women themselves, but by patriarchal systems that reduced our bodies to reproductive vessels. Medical research only began to include women in clinical trials in the 1970s and only gained momentum in the 1990s, leaving generations of women with treatments designed for male physiology.

For Black women, the story is even more fraught. From the exploitation of enslaved women in the name of gynecological “progress,” to the forced sterilizations of the 20th century, our bodies have been sites of both neglect and abuse. These histories are not distant as they reverberate in the health disparities we see today, from maternal mortality to breast cancer outcomes and the hesitancy to participate in clinical trials.

The Cultural Factors That Shape Health

Health is never just biology. It is culture, language, and lived experience. For Black women and women of color, health is shaped by:

• Representation in Care: Too few providers look like us, understand our cultural frameworks, or listen without bias.

• Spirituality and Healing: For many Black women and women of color, faith and ritual are inextricably linked to health practices. Ignoring this dimension leaves care incomplete.

• Silence and Stigma: Topics like mental health, reproductive justice, and cancer are often shrouded in silence within families and communities, making education and advocacy essential.

• Intersectionality: Race, gender, class, and geography intersect to determine access to care, exposure to stress, environmental trauma, and vulnerability to illness.

  
  

Why Education About Women's Health Matters

When I step into a learning space, formal or informal, physical or virtual, I am not just sharing research, facts, and figures, or policy. I am teaching history, resilience, and advocacy. Community-centered women’s health courses directly and indirectly create space to:

• Name the Gaps: Learners are exposed to the ways in which systemic inequities shape outcomes.

• Empower Voices: Women and supporters are equipped to advocate for themselves and

  others.

• Bridge Data and Culture: We translate statistics into stories, and stories into strategies.

• Build Equity: By training the next generation of communicators, health professionals, and advocates, we chip away at disparities that have persisted for centuries

The Pink and The Black Commitment

At The Pink and The Black, we affirm that Black women’s health is sacred. Our work is to make visible what has been hidden, to say what has been silenced, and to heal what has been neglected. Courses on women’s health are one way I live out that commitment by equipping others with the knowledge, cultural context, and courage to transform their personal health, families, communities, and health systems from the inside out.

Women’s health is not a niche subject. It is the foundation of family, community, and generational survival. To educate those who want to learn is to honor our past, confront our present, and imagine a healthier, freer future.

Stay tuned for future online courses on topics in women's health.

Read my books: Health Communication and Breast Cancer Among Black Women: Culture, Identity, Spirituality and Strength, or God’s Word for Healing and Self-Care, to learn more about me, the origins of The Pink and The Black, and why I focus on Black women's health. Available on Amazon or directly from the author.