Black Women

Mar 14 2013

Results from new study says

Researchers analyzed data from more than 26,000 U.S. women who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1973 and 2007 and survived. More than three-quarters were 65 or older.

Of these women, 16 percent later developed heart failure. The rate of heart failure was 21 percent among Black women, 16 percent among Whites, 13 percent among Hispanics, 12 percent among Asians and 11 percent among others, including Native Americans.

Jan 17 2013

Group seeks more congressional funding

Lupus is an unpredictable and misunderstood autoimmune disease that ravages different parts of the body. It is difficult to diagnose, hard to live with, and a challenge to treat. According to a recent survey by the Lupus Foundation of America, an estimated 1.5 million Americans have lupus. Black women, in particular, are three times more likely to develop the disease than White women.

Lavenia Stewart  |   OW Contributor
Dec 20 2012

Researchers explore the causes

Despite decreasing cancer deaths, cancer still kills more African American women than White women. And prostate cancer affects twice as many African American men as White men. These are among the facts presented recently by panel of experts at a Zócalo Public Square event titled, “Why is Cancer Killing More African Americans?”

Nov 1 2012

From South Carolina to the New England states

WASHINGTON—Only days before the presidential election, as the mega-storm slowed down both candidates and knocked out power in millions of homes across the East Coast, a Black voter operation used every possible mechanism to continue get-out-to-vote and voter protection efforts for Tuesday.

Gail Choice  |   OW Contributor
May 31 2012

Hollywood by Choice

Do you want to know what it’s like to be a dark-skin girl in America? The documentary “Dark Girls” produced by veteran actor and filmmaker Bill Duke and documentary director and producer D. Channsin Berry opens a window to a world that everybody has an opinion on, an opinion that sometimes manifests itself in insults and shame.

“Dark Girls” is a documentary exploring the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color, particularly concerning dark-skinned women, outside of and within Black American culture.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.