Black History Month in the Health Science Libraries : Home

The legacy of the Black Panther Party's commitment to community health care, a central aspect of its fight for social justice.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired Black Women's Health Activism in America, 1890-1950 "Susan Smith's book addresses one of the most understudied aspects of African American and American public health and medical history: the emergence of black health activism in the United States."

In this multidisciplinary study, Ann Folwell Stanford reads literature written by U.S. women of color to propose a rethinking of modern medical practice, arguing that personal health and social justice are inextricably linked.

An American Health Dilemma presents a comprehensive and groundbreaking history and social analysis of race, race relations, and the African-American medical and public health experience. Also included are biographical portraits of black medical pioneers like James McCune Smith, the first African American to earn a degree from a European university...

In 2010, Rebecca Skloot published The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a compelling look at Henrietta Lacks’ story, her impact on medical science, and important bioethical issues. Henrietta Lacks was one of a diverse group of patients who unknowingly donated cells at Hopkins in 1951. The donation of Henrietta Lacks' cells began what was the first, and, for many years, the only human cell line able to reproduce indefinitely.

Although the United States spends almost one-fifth of all its resources funding healthcare, the American system continues to be dogged by persistent inequities in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities and women. Invisible Visits analyzes how middle-class Black women navigate the complexities of dealing with doctors in this environment. It challenges the idea that race and gender discrimination-particularly in healthcare settings-is a thing of the past, and questions the persistent myth that discrimination only affects poor racial minorities.