Black Maternal and Infant Health: Historical Legacies of Slavery

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 109; no. 10; pp. 1342 - 1345
• Main Authors: Owens, Deirdre Cooper, Fett, Sharla M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01.10.2019
• Subjects: African Americans; African Americans/Blacks; AJPH 400 Years since Jamestown; Antebellum period; Babies; Bias; Black or African American; Black people; Black women; Childbirth & labor; Commodification; Critical theory; Debt; Disease control; Enslavement; Female; Fertility; Governors; Gynecology; Health care policy; Health disparities; Health promotion; Health Status Disparities; History; Humans; Infant; Infant Health - ethnology; Infant mortality; Infant Mortality - ethnology; Infants; Infertility; Insurance policies; Maternal and infant welfare; Maternal Health - ethnology; Maternal mortality; Maternal Mortality - ethnology; Medical profession; Medicine; Midwifery; Mothers; Obstetrics; Other Maternal and Infant Health; Other Race/EthnicityWomen’s Health; Physicians; Public health; Race; Racial differences; Racial discrimination; Racism; Research subjects; Slave trade; Slavery; Surgeons; Systemic racism; White people; Women; Womens health; United States > US; Virginia
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305243

The legacies of slavery today are seen in structural racism that has resulted in disproportionate maternal and infant death among African Americans. The deep roots of these patterns of disparity in maternal and infant health lie with the commodification of enslaved Black women’s childbearing and physicians’ investment in serving the interests of slaveowners. Even certain medical specializations, such as obstetrics and gynecology, owe a debt to enslaved women who became experimental subjects in the development of the field. Public health initiatives must acknowledge these historical legacies by addressing institutionalized racism and implicit bias in medicine while promoting programs that remedy socially embedded health disparities.