Caring for Black Mothers: May NNLM Reading Club

Posted by Michele Spatz on April 29th, 2022 Posted in: Blog, Consumer Health, Equity Diversity Inclusion, Health Disparities, Health Equity, Health Literacy, News from NNLM, Public Libraries
Tags: consumer health, health information, health literacy, libraries, NNLM Reading Club, public health, public library

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The CDC is focused on addressing a startling statistic: Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. Differences in medical access, healthcare quality, underlying chronic health conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias contribute to this alarming disparity. Social determinants of health, which are defined by the CDC as, “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes,” prevent many people from racial and ethnic minority groups from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health. This range of issues contributes to untoward pregnancy outcomes for Black mothers and other people of color. Many of these outcomes are preventable and this month the NNLM Reading Club shines a light on the importance of Caring for Black Mothers.

The NNLM Reading Club has selected three helpful books to start the conversation:

• Filled with practical advice and written by the founder of Black Moms Blog, Oh, Sis, You’re Pregnant! The Ultimate Guide to Black Pregnancy & Motherhood by Shanicia Boswell offers Black women a helpful, practical guide through pregnancy.
• That Kind of Mother, by author Rumaan Alam, juxtaposes the white privilege of motherhood with the realities of black maternal health through the compelling fictional story of Rebecca, a young White new mom, and Priscella, her Black child care provider who longs to have a child of her own.
• Through extensive interviews, Dána-Ain Davis, MPH. PhD, explores both the historical context and the changes needed to transform the fact that Black women from across all social strata are at higher risk of giving birth prematurely in Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth.

We encourage you to learn more about Caring for Black Mothers by reading one of these books and discussing it in your book club. Visit NNLM Reading. Club: Caring for Black Mothers to get started.