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Black Health and Wellness

While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted health disparities in the Black community in recent years, racial inequalities in health and wellness have been an ongoing issue for centuries. Delve into stories that address these injustices and discover the work being done to reclaim power and create spaces of resiliency, healing and vitality.

Olympia Auset of SÜPRMARKT| Still from "Broken Bread"
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Protesters march holding placards and a portrait of George Floyd during a demonstration against racism and police brutality, in Hollywood, California.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah shares how the past can inform efforts to reshape public safety.
Two students volunteering at a booth speak to two individuals looking at pamphlets that read "Schools Not Prisons."
During the pandemic, Black and Latino youth noticed an increase in mental health issues among their peers. Members of the ACLU's SoCal youth branch took action, advocating for holistic mental health solutions in schools.
5 men sit at a table in front of a laptop
The Brothers, Sons, Selves (BSS) coalition fosters life-affirming spaces for boys and men of color, where justice is rooted in transforming oppressive systems but also in building a trusting and loving community.
5 men sit at a table in front of a laptop
The Brothers, Sons, Selves (BSS) coalition fosters life-affirming spaces for boys and men of color, where justice is rooted in transforming oppressive systems but also in building a trusting and loving community.
An oil rig stands at a site while a plane lands in the distance.
For decades, communities of color have fought against unequal exposure to oil drilling and other environmental harms. Recent policies to phase out drilling and require buffer zones are victories, but the battle is still ongoing.
Mingles Tea Bar
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In Inglewood, Rosey meets Lara of Mingle’s Tea Bar and learns the art of tea and family.
National youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman arrives at the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the US Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC.
“I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from freedom fighters, who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me,” so goes the mantra of Amanda Gorman. Learn more about the nation's youngest inauguration poet and her politics.
A Viver Brasil dancer in resplendent yellow dress | Courtesy of Viver Brasil
Viver Brasil expands the circle of Afro-Brazilian dance and perception of samba beyond feathered headdresses, bikinis and heels, empowering Black bodies and narratives in the process.
Protestors hug at the Brown Unity March, which was organized to unite the Black, Latino and Indigenous communities in demanding justice for victims of police brutality in Los Angeles. | ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
Racism undergirds the inequities we see in nearly every major measure of health status we have. But there are immediate steps we can take toward transformative solidarity to begin changing our systems and institutions.
Police siren in the foreground of a line of law enforcement officers.
Perceptions of public safety impact the physical and mental well-being of residents. In communities like South Los Angeles, racial profiling by police and unequal law enforcement tactics have large impacts for public health.
Illustration representing the criminalization of Black and Latinx people for substance abuse.
Health inequities are systemic, avoidable and unjust health outcomes ultimately perpetuated by those who have power in society. Here, we explore four examples of health inequities and their relationship to power imbalances.
Dr. Richard Allen Williams stands beside a framed poster of his novel.
Richard Allen Williams, MD, the founder of the Association of Black Cardiologists, discusses the health of Black Americans from the point of view of doctors and patients and digs deep into the history that’s led to today’s disparities.
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