Nursing's role in racism and African American women's health

Abstract

African American women's health has been neglected in the nursing and other health care literature, in spite of evidence that they are among the most vulnerable populations in the United States today. In this article, I highlight the health disparities between African American and European American women, discuss possible reasons for the disparities, and propose that nursing as a profession has been complicit in perpetuating the racism of health care and society. Although the focus is on nursing research and practice, it is likely that other health care disciplines perpetuate racism in similar ways.