NNLM Reading Club May 2022: Caring for Black Mothers

Posted by Darlene Kaskie on April 29th, 2022 Posted in: NNLM Reading Club

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 healthcare quality, underlying chronic health conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias contribute to this 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 and contribute to untoward pregnancy outcomes for Black mothers and other people of color. Because many of these outcomes are preventable, 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 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 story of Rebecca, a young white new mom, and Priscella, her black nanny who longs to have a child.
• 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.

ABOUT Darlene Kaskie
Darlene Kaskie, M.L.S. is Community Engagement Coordinator for Region 6 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine. She connects communities to training, engagement, and funding to improve access, use, and understanding of health information. Advancing health literacy and digital skills training helps people make informed decisions about their health. She earned her Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) from the Medical Library Association.

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