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Feb 28
Pauli Murray’s exemplary career as a civil rights lawyer began with a seat on a bus in the whites-only section and a subsequent arrest. The experience of being arrested drove her to begin work with the Workers’ Defense League, which propelled her dream of law school, resulting in a law degree from Howard University, a…
Feb 21
A cowboy hat, pink sunglasses and fake eyelashes…those were the trademark accessories for Florynce Kennedy, a woman who was recognized equally by her staple uniform as she was by her activism. Growing up in Missouri during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was locally operating, she was no stranger to local prejudice and her…
Feb 16
Recognizing that abortions had been illegally performed in hospitals under the guise of “therapeutic abortions” but always attached to a large check, Dr. Edgar Bass Keemer, Jr. was the sole Detroit physician who provided abortions to poor black and white women who were welfare recipients or Medicaid card holders. The son of a doctor and…
Feb 08
“Intersectionality.” The term, coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, has become a hot topic and a rallying cry for those on the front lines of the fight for human rights. With an undergraduate from Cornell, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an LLM from University of Wisconsin, she began her career at the UCLA School of…
Feb 24
On the final Friday of Black History Month, RHAP is taking the time to highlight black women’s health pioneer and lifelong activist Byllye Avery. Avery’s path first led her to a career in education, where she taught children with special needs in Jacksonville, Florida while pursuing a Master’s in Education. After being diagnosed with an…
Feb 17
On our third Friday, RHAP’s #BlackHistoryMonthFeature focuses on the radical, lesbian, black feminist organization Combahee River Collective. The group, founded by sisters Barbara and Beverly Smith and Demita Frazier in 1974 was named after the historic raid on the Combahee River, where Harriet Tubman led a campaign in the rescue of over 700 slaves in…
Feb 10
RHAP’s second #BlackHistoryMonthFeature is Dr. Percy Julian, a revolutionary organic chemist who set the tone for the future of contraception and family planning. Dr. Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1899. With the rural south prohibiting African American students from attending high school due to Jim Crow laws, Julian went to DePauw University with…
Feb 03
RHAP’s first #BlackHistoryMonthFeature is Dorothy Roberts; a law professor, essayist, and social justice scholar focusing on the intersections of race, gender, socio-economic conditions and the law. Her work primarily focuses on African Americans, women, and children through the lens of public policy, bioethics and health. In 1997, Roberts’ groundbreaking book “Killing the Black Body: Race,…