By Anissa Durham | Word In Black

(WIB) – At 40 weeks pregnant, Georgina Dukes-Harris drove to her weekly OB-GYN appointment in Clemson, South Carolina. It was 8 a.m. on Dec. 14, 2011. The doctor told her there’s no need for her son to “bake any longer.” So, the first-time mom returned, as instructed, at 6 p.m. on the same day. Health care providers gave her Pitocin to induce labor.

Next, they gave her an epidural and broke her water. Dukes-Harris was now on a time clock. She had 48 hours to give birth before complications could set in for her and the baby. Even though her cervix wasn’t fully dilated to 10 centimeters, doctors told her to push.

Four to five hours of pushing and nothing was happening.  

“I was pushing, and they used forceps to try to pull him out, and it left a big scar on his head.” she says, “It’s like I had two births in one.”

At that point, Dukes-Harris’ heart rate spiked, and the baby showed signs of distress. Doctors decided to give her an emergency C-section on Dec. 16, which she describes as a deeply traumatic experience.

At 19-years-old and in the best shape of her life, Dukes-Harris recalls following her doctors’ instructions to a T. But the trauma that came with her unplanned C-section left her dealing with postpartum depression and anxiety for more than a year afterward.

Dukes-Harris’s story is one of many that highlight the challenges Black birthing people face in America. Maternal care deserts, abortion bans, and the overutilization of C-section have all traumatized and even ended the lives of Black women. Now Black birthing people, physicians, and holistic care providers are pushing for a more patient-centered approach.

Black Mothers Face Higher Risks and Limited Options 

A 2024 March of Dimes report found that 35% of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts, which are counties with no birthing facilities or obstetric clinicians. Chronic conditions related to poor health outcomes for birthing people like pre-pregnancy obesity, hypertension, and diabetes have increased since 2015 and are most common in maternity care deserts. These conditions are also most common among Black and American Indian and Alaska Native birthing people.

Pregnant people who give birth in counties that are identified as maternity care deserts or low access areas have poorer health before pregnancy, receive less prenatal care, and experience higher rates of preterm births. Most states have between one and nine birth centers, but that still leaves 70% of all birth centers residing within 10 states.

“We serve four different counties that do not have any OB-GYNs at all,” says Joy Baker, an OB-GYN in LaGrange, Georgia. “The real issue is these are communities that already have diminished access to social determinants of health … I think of them as political determinants of health. These places don’t become under resourced by accident.”

Barriers to Maternal Health Care 

Pregnant people in areas identified as maternity care deserts often travel between 26 to 38 minutes for obstetric care. During pregnancy and childbirth, longer travel time is associated with higher risk of maternal morbidity, stillbirth, and neonatal intensive care unit admission, the report states. And Black women are already at a higher risk for gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and postpartum hemorrhage.

“There’s not one condition that I can think of that gets better in pregnancy,” Baker says. “It’s usually exacerbated.”

Now, more than two years after fact, the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that protected a women’s right to an abortion, has complicated things for physicians like Baker. In Southern states with some of the strictest abortion bans like Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, Black women are facing more barriers to access reproductive health care.

But it’s not just patients who are struggling.  

Each state has a different abortion ban or restriction, often making it unclear as to what a physician is able to do. For example, in Georgia, abortion is restricted to six weeks or less. Although the law has exceptions to protect the “life of the mother,” the language is vague and can leave loopholes for doctors to be prosecuted if a physician intervenes too early.

In Baker’s personal practice, she hasn’t been affected too much by the abortion bans. But she says there are physicians in neighboring counties that have struggled with caring for their patients due to the law.

“Doctors are afraid. When you have spent your entire life training and building a career, the last thing you want is to go to prison for just doing your job,” Baker says. “There is a lot of fear surrounding that. It’s been horrible to the physician patient relationship.”

Birthing Shouldn’t Be Traumatic 

Courtesy of Lauren Elliot.

At 38 weeks pregnant, Lauren Elliot’s doctor told her the umbilical cord was wrapped around her son’s neck at least three times. Later, they realized it was wrapped around his neck five times. Delivering vaginally no longer became an option when her son was in distress. Elliot, 29 at the time, had a C-section.

“I was paralyzed with emotion from wanting him to be OK,” she says.

Shortly afterward she developed postpartum preeclampsia. And like Dukes-Harris, Elliot, now 36, described a C-section as a traumatic experience. Although her son was delivered healthy, the mental health toll from her first birthing experience loomed over her for two years. She struggled with anxiety and panic attacks. To cope she created Candlelit Care, an app-based behavioral health clinic that supports Black birthing people throughout a pregnancy and afterwards.

For her next pregnancy, Elliot determined to have a vaginal birth after a cesarean section or VBAC. But many doctors worry about a uterine rupture even if a patient has fully healed from a C-section. She also made the intentional decision to have a Black OB-GYN.

But even that wasn’t enough.  

During labor with her second child, Elliot wasn’t dilating fast enough. Then, doctors informed her she would need to have a second cesarean. Initially, she felt like a failure for not being able to have a vaginal birth. But she finds comfort in knowing she at least experienced labor.

In 2023, according to the World Health Organization, about one in three births in the United States were C-sections.

There are a few reasons why. 

The overutilization of C-sections, Baker says, is because physicians are afraid of malpractice claims and lawsuits. While in training, she recalls physicians encouraging a C-section because “you never have to apologize when the baby comes out.” But this default decision has increased the risk of complications for patients.

“Not only is it a traumatic mental imprint that is forever left (on a patient),” Baker says, but they also face an increased risk of hemorrhage, infection, and postpartum complications. “There is a time where a C-section is needed … but this whole knee-jerk reaction to just do a C-section, if you’re unsure, needs to stop.”

Will I Die Giving Birth? 

In 2023, when Dukes-Harris became pregnant again at 33, she was determined to do things differently with her birthing experience. To prepare for her daughter’s arrival, Dukes-Harris got a prenatal chiropractor and hired a team of three doulas and a home birth midwife.

“I can’t die giving birth,” she says. “My OB-GYN said that having a baby at 30-plus, over 300 pounds, is basically a death sentence.”

But her diagnosed anxiety kicked in and led her back to the hospital at 4 a.m.

“I physically prepared, but I didn’t mentally prepare for birth,” she says. “I was having an out-of-body experience.”

Doctors wanted to push for a C-section, but Dukes-Harris refused. Once her 6-foot-5 husband and midwife entered the room, she was able to successfully deliver her daughter vaginally. Now, after two birthing experiences that didn’t go exactly as planned, she created swishvo, a platform that connects patients and providers to access holistic health options.

On a national scale, certified nurse midwives have been shown to improve birth outcomes for Black and American Indian, and Alaska Native communities. Currently, 27 states and D.C. have policies that allow certified nurse midwives full practice authority.

“Community-based birth workers, doulas, nurse navigators, lactation consultants, childbirth educators, we need all of that,” Baker says. “Our doulas are magnificent; they educate patients. We’re not able to do this by ourselves as physicians and midwives. We need a community of care for our patients.”

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The Birmingham Times

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) last week presented Odessa Woolfolk, the city’s renowned educator, civic leader and lifelong advocate for civil and human rights, with the 2024 Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award.

“That is an award of a lifetime,” Woolfolk said before the ceremony. “Rev. Shuttlesworth has been my idol since I first met him when he was here doing his work in the late ’50s and ’60s. To be associated with his values, his mission, his courage, his belief in people, equality and justice to … have something on my shelf that associates me with those values doesn’t get better than that.”

Odessa Woolfolk, center, renowned educator, civic leader and lifelong advocate for Civil and Human Rights and the 2024 Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award winner with Rosilyn Houston, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Board Chair; and Mike Goodwich, (Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation) at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s 32nd Anniversary Celebration. (Provided)

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The award, named after the legendary civil rights leader and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), recognizes individuals who have made enduring contributions to the ongoing fight for equality, justice and human dignity.

Odessa Woolfolk, center, renowned educator, civic leader and lifelong advocate for Civil and Human Rights and the 2024 Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award winner with Rosilyn Houston, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Board Chair; and Mike Goodwich, (Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation) at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s 32nd Anniversary Celebration. (Provided)

“We are honored to present the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award to Odessa Woolfolk, whose lifelong dedication to human and civil rights has shaped the course of history in Birmingham and beyond,” said Rosilyn Houston, newly elected chair of the BCRI Board of Directors, in a statement. “Her vision, leadership and tireless advocacy continue to inspire new generations to stand up for justice and equality. Odessa Woolfolk exemplifies the very essence of what this award stands for.”

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By DaQuan Lawrence | AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com

On Nov. 28 the Thanksgiving holiday will arrive, complete with family gatherings, community events and opportunities to give back and be grateful. While conversations about the origin of Thanksgiving and the purpose of the holiday remain suspended between myth and fact-based reality, educators in the state of Maryland grapple each year with how the holiday is addressed in the educational setting.

According to Brittanica, “Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.”

While millions of American citizens use the holiday as the opener to a season of gratitude, for others the holiday is overshadowed by the death and destruction experienced by Native Americans at the hands of Europeans as colonization spread.

According to Dr. Kelli Mosteller, who serves as Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center director, the holiday “disregards against Native Americans and chooses to take…one tiny snapshot.”

“The world of social media puts pretty filters on it so that it doesn’t look the way it truly did,” she said, in a statement.

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In real life, the situation was anything but a celebration. According to Holocaust Museum Houston, “when European settlers arrived in the Americas, historians estimate there were over 10 million Native Americans living there. By 1900, their estimated population was under 300,000. Native Americans were subjected to many different forms of violence, all with the intention of destroying the community.”

Information released by the museum states that “in the late 1800s, blankets from smallpox patients were distributed to Native Americans in order to spread disease. There were several wars, and violence was encouraged; for example, European settlers were paid for each Penobscot person they killed.”

Then came more atrocities.

According to the museum, “In the 19th century, 4,000 Cherokee people died on the Trail of Tears, a forced march from the southern U.S. to Oklahoma.”

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is the federally recognized government of the Indigenous population and represents over 38,000 tribal members.

Some members of society believe the factual history behind the holiday provides ample reasons for citizens to not celebrate what is billed to the American public as a time to be thankful. To many Native Americans, the holiday ignores over 400 years of mayhem against Indigenous people and maintains the bloody colonialism system responsible for millions of lives lost.

Erica Frank, a social studies teacher specialist in Maryland, expressed concern over the topic of Thanksgiving and highlighted the significance of educational approaches to engage students.

“As a historian and curriculum writer, I struggle with how the narrative of Thanksgiving is relayed,” Frank said. “Like many American historical events, I struggle with the fact that from a young age we condition our students to be compassionate of individuals who created harm towards other cultures that still have reverberating impacts on society today.”

Frank was born and raised in Anne Arundel County, Md. and is currently in her 11th year of education. She remembers learning about the holiday during her own formative years.

“Unfortunately, my experience with Thanksgiving in grade school was more of a teaching in nostalgic American history–rather than accurate American history,” Frank told the AFRO.

“My grade level holiday themed lessons revolved around making turkey and pilgrim crafts to celebrate the coming together of two cultures during one meal. I was not taught about the Wampanoag tribe or the negative impact of Pilgrims– really, colonists– on Native Americans during this time period,” Frank said. “I appreciate that there are a growing number of resources available which discuss the varied perspectives. I have seen growth on the secondary level of both teachers and students asking the right questions about this day and other similar topics.”

Though the origins of the holiday go back to Plymouth, Mass., 1621, President Abraham Lincoln formally established Thanksgiving as a holiday in the U.S. over 200 years later in November 1863 during the Civil War. The holiday was created as a social mechanism to develop improved relations among northern states, southern states and tribal nations.

Unbeknownst to many Americans, is the fact that during the previous year, President Lincoln ordered 38 Dakota tribal members to die from hanging after corrupt federal agents prevented the Dakota-Sioux from receiving food and provisions. Members of the tribe retaliated while enduring starvation, causing the Dakota War of 1862.

Lincoln ultimately believed that Thanksgiving created an opportunity to reduce Indigenous populations’ negative sentiments and to restore their relationship with the federal government.

But the loyalty to the holiday runs deep- especially in the classroom, where Thanksgiving is formally introduced during the elementary school years, amid a student’s formative development period.

“I remember as far back as kindergarten, when teachers had us play the roles of pilgrims and Native Americans,” said Erica Sellman, an English Language Arts department chair at a middle school in Anne Arundel County. “They separated the class, and the Pilgrim group created a ship while the Native American group created beautiful head pieces from feathers. I recall being upset because I wanted to make a head piece, but I was not in that group.”

Voter registration for young Black women in 13 key states is on the rise, with 175 percent more engagement when compared with 2020 — nearly triple the rate. The surge highlights long standing political engagement within this demographic. (Photo courtesy of Word In Black)

The decision of whether to discuss the history of the Thanksgiving holiday in an in-depth manner is largely a matter of an educator’s discretion and dependent upon the educator’s experience and comfortability by addressing the subject with young learners.

“History should be a part of instruction– however, all educators cannot teach sensitive topics without biases,” Sellman said. “It is hard for some educators regardless of ethnicity to discuss some of the context behind historical events, but it can be done, and it should be done.”

Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education provides resources for educators who are interested in teaching about the Thanksgiving holiday in a culturally responsive manner. Their  guide, titled “Teaching Thanksgiving the Culturally Responsive Way,” notes how teachers need to start by deconstructing myths surrounding the holiday.

Experts from Rutgers say myths such as “the arrival of The Mayflower was the introduction between the Pilgrims and Native Americans,” need to be addressed, explored and corrected.

“Europeans had already initiated contact with the Wampanoag tribe through violent slave raiding. When The Mayflower arrived, there were at least two Wampanoag tribe members that spoke English, due to traveling to Europe and back,” states information from Rutgers University’s guide.

The university explains how the myth of “the Wampanoag tribe wanted to help the Pilgrims” is also wrong because “Wampanoag leader Ousamequin chose to welcome the Pilgrims as a strategy. At the time, his tribe was weak and had lower numbers due to coming in contact with disease. He thought an alliance would help strengthen the tribe and protect against rivals.”

Even the Thanksgiving dinner between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans is steeped in incorrect information, according to the university.

“Annual harvests are a tradition in Native American communities, and the Wampanoag’s annual harvest is what the Pilgrims experienced. In reality, a loose version of Thanksgiving was established in 1637 by Massachusetts Bay Governor William Bradford,” report historians from Rutgers. “Instead of commemorating a shared feast, the observance celebrated the Anglo-Pequot War, where armed soldiers surrounded the Pequot village and set it on fire, shooting anyone who tried to escape. During the two-year war, 700 Pequot people were killed or enslaved, with the tribe eventually being eliminated.”

The guide encourages culturally responsive teaching when it comes to the sensitive topic of Thanksgiving in the classroom.

In 2020, the National Education Association took note of Native educators who declared that lessons on the subject and holiday can be both accurate, respectful and interesting to learn about with an element of commemoration.

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