Tina describes her lineage as “ A matrilineal line as worthy of memorization as the bloodlines of mythological Greek god I would learn later.” With that in mind, please consider the following questions:

There is no shortage of evidence that Black women in the U.S. are more likely to face adverse maternal health outcomes. According to the CDC (2024), Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women. Racial disparities in maternal mortality have been documented since collection of such data begin in 1915. While white maternal mortality rates declined after World War II, the gap widened, reaching a point in the early 1970s where Black mothers faced mortality rates four times higher than white mothers (Declercq & Zephyrin, 2020). Research indicates that these disparities increase with age and persist regardless of education or income level (Hill et al., 2024). There are numerous factors that contribute to these preventable deaths, including systemic racism, limited access to quality healthcare, chronic health conditions, and implicit bias in medical care.