
          Black Women's Health Conference
          By Chaney, Betty NorwoodBetty Norwood Chaney
          Vol. 5, No. 5, 1983, pp. 18-20
          
          In 1970 Byllye Avery had it made. She was married to a wonderful
man. He was college educated and had a good job. They owned their
home, had a station wagon and two children. They were a black family
achieving the American dream.
          Suddenly, Byllye Avery's husband died of a heart attack at age
thirty-three, a casualty of hypertension (killer of one out of every
four blacks). Only after years of cardiovascular stress, usually
producing no symptoms which require medical attention, does high blood
pressure result in major complications: stroke, heart attack, heart or
kidney failure and the premature death and disability of hundreds of
thousands of people each year.
          High blood pressure occurs more frequently among blacks than
whites; it develops earlier in life, is more severe and causes higher
mortality at younger ages. Deaths from hypertension before age forty
are six to seven times more common in blacks than whites.
          The loss of her husband changed Byllye Avery's life. Realizing that
degrees, jobs, money or middle_class trappings matter little without
good health, she began a crusade to improve health_care education and
conditions for blacks.
          Avery co-founded the Gainesville (Florida) Women's Health Center
and Birthplace, Alternative Birthing Center. Her discoveries about the
conditions of black_women's health appalled her. Not only was the
incidence of hypertension in black_women double that of the rest of
the population, but so were the rates of diabetes, cancer and
lupus. And because black_women-headed households make up fifty-three
percent of all U.S. households in poverty, the demands of living for
black mothers lead to psychological distress for more than half of the
black female population. Additionally, the problem of teenage
pregnancy is a major health and social concern and black infant
mortality rates are twice those of whites.
          "If sickness and suffering among blacks is to be reduced," Avery
said, "it will be through the development of a new consciousness about
health and well being among black_women."
          Over two years ago, Byllye Avery conceived the idea of a national
conference on black_women and health. Sponsored by the Black Women's
Health Project and the National Women's Health Network, the conference
convened this summer on the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta. Over
sixteen hundred health_care providers, health educators and interested
women attended from across the country, overwhelming and almost
tripling planners' expectations. The three-day gathering featured
workshops, speeches, films, self-help demonstrations, exhibits and
cultural and physical fitness activities. Discussion topics included
hypertension, diabetes, cancer, lupus, domestic violence, stress,
maternal and infant health, teenage pregnancy, elderly abuse and
occupational and environmental health.
          Dedicated to Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977), activist and freedom
fighter, the conference theme was "I'm sick and Tired of Being Sick
and Tired," words which Ms. Hamer said often as she struggled to
effect change in rural Mississippi. According to conference
coordinator Eleanor Hinton-Hoytt, the theme symbolized not only "the
struggles and suffering of black_women, but also our commitment to
seize control of these conditions which affect our lifestyles and
health."
          Keynoting the conference, Dr. June Jackson Christmas of the School
of Bio-Medical Education, City College of New_York, insisted that "we
must do more to learn and understand the causes of our being sick; the
reasons for our being tired. Black women face the triple jeopardy of
being black, female and poor in a racist, sexist and class 

structured society."
          The goal was to help black_women learn to take care of their bodies
and take charge of their lives. "At the conference," says Byllye
Avery, "we tried to take care of black_women in the way that we think
we need to be taken care of--in a way that nobody has taken care of us
before." Sixty workshops ran concurrently with films, exhibits and
self-help demonstrations. You could be tested for sickle cell anemia,
see a film on natural childbirth or a photo exhibit on black_women's
life cycles. The second and third days began with yoga and physical
fitness sessions.
          All the workshops were well attended but the most popular ones
dealt with the psychological conditions of black_women. Many illnesses
that black_women suffer develop amid living conditions of continuous
emotional stress. "If we are going to improve our health," argues
Avery, "we first have got to deal with our minds."
          The most popular workshop was, "Black and Female: What is the
Reality?" This session, designed and conducted by Lillie Allen, a
family medicine educator at the Morehouse School of Medicines' Family
Practice Center. was held three times to overflow crowds. Allen sought
to dispel the myth that black_women have to be eternal pillars of
strength. The women who attended (whites were excluded) shared deeply
personal, often painful experiences. The conclusion of this workshop
found hundreds of women in tears, embracing one another. "We felt,"
said one woman, "tremendous relief."
          "It was amazing," Allen says, "how one person in talking about an
area that was difficult for her helped the other women present. They
were able to relate to it and it opened them up. By the end of the
workshop the women had become genuinely interested in and supportive
of each other."
          Allen's workshop has prompted the Black Women's Health Project to
make the formation of self-help health 

groups across the nation a
major goal over the next few years. Already there are more than twenty
such groups under the sponsorship of the Project. Although they all
share the emphasis on reaching lower income black_women and increasing
their access to and knowledge of health_care services and principles,
these groups are very diverse in focus. A Florida self-help group, for
instance, aims at reducing high blood pressure through diet and
exercise, while a Georgia group has hosted a women's health weekend in
a rural area which included demonstrations on breast self-examination
and gynecological self-help.
          While the popular cry at the end of the Atlanta conference was for
another gathering next year, Avery cautioned that "the real work has
yet to be done." She does not project another national conference
until 1986. In the meantime, the BWHP has set as a goal the creation
of fifty new self-help groups, a newsletter, a report and a handbook
on health issues, regional conferences, and production and
distribution of video health education materials and the production of
a documentary on the national conference to be shown on Cable Atlanta
and other cable television systems.
          Individuals or groups who seek more information should contact the
Black Women's Health Project, M.L. King, Jr. Health Center, 450 Auburn
Avenue, Suite 157, Atlanta, Georgia 30312, (404) 659-3854.
          
            Betty Norwood Chaney, a former editor of Southern
Changes, lives in Atlanta where she is a teacher, mother, and
freelance writer.
          
        
