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Building a More Inclusive Women's Health Movement: Byllye Avery and the Development of the National Black Women's Health Project, 1981-1990

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Building a More Inclusive Women's Health Movement: Byllye Avery and the Development of the National Black Women's Health Project, 1981-1990 Building a More Inclusive Women's Health Movement: Byllye Avery and the Development of the National Black Women's Health Project, 1981-1990 A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History of the College of Arts and Sciences 2012 By Evan Hart M.A., University of Cincinnati, 2007 B.A., University of Southern Indiana, 2005 Committee Chair: Wendy Kline, Ph.D. Abstract This dissertation examines the National Black Women's Health Project (NBWHP), the first organization devoted solely to the health of black women. The Project was a unique organization because it was one of the first which argued black women, because of the multiple jeopardies of racism, classism, and sexism, must fight the forces negatively impacting their emotional, physical, and spiritual health. These forces, Project members argued, included their white counterparts in groups such as the National Women's Health Network, the Project's mother organization. Troubled by the lack of information on black women's health issues, NBWHP founder Byllye Avery sought to remedy the situation by hosting a national conference on black women’s health issues at Spelman College in 1983. It was at this conference that black women demanded the formation of an independent health organization, not just a program of a predominantly white health group, a group which too often glossed over the health concerns of women of color. NBWHP leaders insisted they needed their own organization which addressed their health issues. Many of the founders had been involved on some level with white women's health organizations, and most continued to have friendly relationships with white activists. However, none of the founders felt that the larger Women's Health Movement did enough to improve the health status of black women The movement did not adequately integrate women of color's health care issues into their programs. Their insistence that there was a universal female experience erased the unique health concerns of women of color. Black women, through the guidance of the NBWHP, began writing their own agenda and developing their own programs. In crafting a new agenda, the Project created a space where women of color could iii articulate their own needs and ideas. This space was necessary for black women to analyze their experiences and develop responsive programs. As NBWHP members noted again and again, black women's lives were quite different from white women. The movement's emphasis on self- exam, for example, was not as important to black women who fought for their lives on a daily basis. Their priorities simply did not match. White health feminists wanted an inclusive movement, but it did not appear that interracial organization in women's health groups helped achieve this goal. Project members were not interested in separation, however, which suggested a clean break from other organizations. Rather, the Project sought independence from white organizations. Independence meant that Project members could write their own agenda, but it left room for inter-organizational alliances. For Project members and other women of color, inclusion did not mean that they had to join white women's groups. On the contrary, inclusion meant that all women, regardless of their race, would be able to organize themselves while building alliances and coalitions with each other. The explosion of health activism amongst women of color after the Project's founding shows that the time was ripe for women of color to organize themselves around their group's health issues, making the movement more inclusive and responsive in the process. iv Table of Contents Abstract iii List of Abbreviations vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 “The Conspiracy of Silence is Killing Us:” 18 Byllye Avery and the Founding of the National Black Women's Health Project Chapter 2 From Internalized Oppression to Empowerment: 72 The Development of Self-Help Chapter 3 Women's Health Redefined: The National Black 120 Women's Health Project and Wholistic Health Care Chapter 4 Pragmatic Alliances: Working with Other Women's 169 Organizations Epilogue The Magic Was Not There: Byllye Avery and the 207 End of the National Black Women's Health Project Bibliography 214 vi List of Abbreviations AHMA American Holistic Medicine Association BWA Black Women's Alliance BWOA Black Women Organized for Action BWHBC Boston Women's Health Book Collective CBWW Center for Black Women's Wellness DHHS Department of Health and Human Services FFWHC Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers NABF National Alliance of Black Feminists NAWHO National Asian Women's Health Organization NBFO National Black Feminist Organization NBWHP National Black Women's Health Project NLHO National Latina Health Organization NOW National Organization for Women NWHN National Women's Health Network NAWHERC Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center PPEP Public Policy and Education Program RC Re-Evaluation Counseling R2N2 Reproductive Rights National Network SDS Students for a Democratic Society SNCC Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee TWWA Third World Women's Alliance vii Introduction On June 24, 1983, approximately two thousand women gathered in Sisters Chapel on Spelman College's campus in Atlanta to help kickoff the first National Conference on Black Women's Health Issues. For many participants, the conference was the first time they had gathered with so many other women to discuss important health issues. “I had never seen such a large group of black women together working on women's issues before,” activist and conference participant Loretta Ross remembered.1 The women, exhilarated and inspired, streamed into the chapel in order to hear June Jackson Christmas's keynote address. Christmas, a professor and director of the Behavioral Science Program at The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, opened the gathering as women crowded into the chapel, many standing in the aisles and around the walls to make room for more women. “We gather together for the health of black people,” Christmas declared “that we may do more than survive, that we may be able to fulfill our potential and be healthy, in body and mind, in family and community.” She continued, “[i]f we understand the problem- the political and economic forces which make and keep us 'sick and tired,' poor and oppressed, the interrelated forces of racism and sexism, then we must each choose to be part of the solution.”2 Inspired by Christmas' address and the rest of the conference activities, many women in the audience agreed to be part of the solution, dedicating themselves to improving their health and well-being. This conference at Spelman College, sponsored by the National Women's Health Network (NWHN), was the first of its kind which specifically addressed the health concerns of women of 1 Loretta Ross, interview by Joyce Follet, transcript of video recording, November 3, 2004, Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, Sophia Smith Collection , 202. 2 National Black Women's Health Project, The First National Conference on Black Women's Health Issues, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia: I'm Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired (Atlanta, GA: No Publisher Listed, 1983), 11. 1 color. Although women's health organizations, including the NWHN, had been hard at work for a decade improving health care for women, no organization prioritized the unique health needs of women of color. Byllye Avery, a middle-aged black woman from Florida, had worked for over a decade within these predominantly white groups, growing frustrated by the lack of attention paid to black women. Due to her close relationship with the NWHN, Avery convinced the organization to sponsor a Black Women's Health Project and to support a conference on Black Women's Health Issues. It was at this conference that black activists, including Avery, decided that a NWHN project was not sufficient in addressing black women's health needs. These women sought independence from the NWHN in 1984, forming the National Black Women's Health Project (NBWHP) with Avery operating as the organization's director. As an organization, the Project emerged in the midst of a number of movements which had already been underway for over a decade. In particular, the Project was tied to civil rights, feminism, and the movement for more democratic and accessible health care. The 1960s had seen an explosion of health activism geared toward expanding health care access to the poor and minorities. Neighborhood health centers and free health clinics, through the support of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs, began popping up through the country, providing health services to individuals who had been underserved by traditional health care providers. In particular, free clinics provided services that were “less expensive, less dominated by professions, less hierarchical, and more open to advocacy and social change.”3 The move toward a more democratic and accessible health care system led to the establishment of the Health Policy Advisory Center (Health/PAC), a kind of clearinghouse which provided information, 3 Sheryl Burt Ruzek, The Women's Health Movement: Feminist Alternatives to Medical Control (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978),60-61. See also Lily M. Hoffman, The Politics of Knowledge: Activist Movements in Medicine and Planning (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989). 2 education, and technical assistance to groups interested in health activism.4 Additionally, Congress expanded access to health care to children, the poor, and the elderly through the Medicare and Medicaid programs, both passed in 1965. Expanding health care access to the poor, and making health care more democratic, were major goals of these activists. Although poverty was a major impediment to health care, other activists noted that racism was another negative health barrier.
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