This article was produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism and the Fund for Reporting on Child Well-being. HOUSTON — By the third trimester of an already difficult pregnancy, Moriah Ballard faced two new complications: relentless headaches and dizziness. Over the […]
Health
Posted inMaternal Health, Partner Content, Reproductive Health
‘Ticking Time Bomb’: A Pregnant Mother Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Tierra Walker had reached her limit. In the weeks since she’d learned she was pregnant, the 37-year-old dental assistant had been wracked by unexplained seizures and mostly confined to a hospital cot. With soaring blood pressure and diabetes, she knew she was at high risk of developing preeclampsia, […]
Posted inHealth Equity, Partner Content, Transportation, Voices of Change
How Rosa Parks’ Legacy Inspired a New Fight Over Who Could Ride the Bus
Originally published by The 19th Decades after her act of defiance, Rosa Parks galvanized a cadre of activists to protest their own conditions and, though the scope of her legacy for them is still coming into focus, it remains just as powerful. They were fighting for disability access, and, like Parks, they used public transportation […]
Posted inEconomy, Employment, Food Access, Health, Politics & Policy
Government Shutdown Ends, Offers Relief for Black Federal Workers
It’s over. The longest government shutdown in history — and one that disproportionately impacted Black Americans — formally ended Wednesday after a handful of Democratic senators broke ranks with the party to advance a deal. The Senate passed the measure on Monday, and the House followed on Wednesday; President Donald Trump signed the funding bill late […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Health, Land Pollution, Reproductive Health
Black Women in South LA Lead the Fight to End Urban Oil Drilling
LOS ANGELES — When the winds shifted last January and smoke from wildfires settled into South LA, the city’s low-lying neighborhoods, residents there didn’t need another study to tell them the air was unsafe. They could feel it. For Iretha Warmsley, the soot raining down was another reminder of what decades of fossil fuel extraction […]
Posted inHealth
Deaths of R&B and Hip-Hop Artists Reveal the Alarming State of Black Men’s Health
This story was originally published on Dec. 27, 2023. Neo-soul trailblazer D’Angelo, whose music defined a generation, died Tuesday after a “prolonged and courageous battle with cancer,” according to his family. He was 51. DJ Premier mourned the singer on X, writing, “Such a sad loss to the passing of D’Angelo. We have so many […]
Posted inMental Health
Kyren Lacy’s Death at 24 Sheds Light on Black Male Suicide Crisis
Kyren Lacy was a 6-foot-2 Southeastern Conference football player with a broad, if often absent, smile, a love for Buffalo Wild Wings and lemonade. Some sports analysts even predicted that the Louisiana State University senior might go to a National Football League team as early as the second round of the draft this year. Instead, […]
Posted inEducation, Health, Partner Content
Parents Fear Losing Disability Protections as Trump Slashes Civil Rights Office
Devon Price, a 15-year-old boy with autism, has attended the largest school district in North Carolina for 10 years, but he cannot read or write. His twin sister, Danielle, who is also autistic, was bullied by classmates and became suicidal. Under federal law, public schools must provide children with disabilities a “free appropriate public education,” […]
Posted inGun Violence, Health, Health Equity, Partner Content
A Surgical Team Was About To Harvest This Man’s Organs — Until His Doctor Intervened
ST. LOUIS — Lying on top of an operating room table with his chest exposed, Larry Black Jr. was moments away from having his organs harvested when a doctor ran breathlessly into the room. “Get him off the table,” the doctor recalled telling the surgical team at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital as the […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
COVID Hits Black Americans Harder. New Vaccine Limits Increase the Risk
Upheaval at the country’s top public health agency has left millions of Americans uncertain about access to the updated COVID-19 vaccines at a moment when rising case numbers threaten to disproportionately harm Black Americans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new shots in August. But it narrowed eligibility to people who are 65 […]