Review

Sick and tired no longer

HEALTHY AND WISE: THE ESSENTIAL HEALTH HANDBOOK FOR BLACK WOMEN
Melba Wilson (ed)
Virago, 1994, £6.99

The determination of Black women to support their family and community can mean that their own health needs are ignored. Black women have specific health needs, and are often denied not only access to services but also appropriate services. All these factors lead to high levels of unmet need and ill health. Although meeting their own health needs is often low on their agenda a growing politicisation has led to more Black women saying (in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer quoted by Angela Davis) ‘we are sick and tired of being sick and tired’.

Healthy and Wise is a collection of very diverse chapters on the health of Black women which vary from personal recollections to straightforward advice and information. The subjects cover not only the political context of Black women’s lives but also areas that especially affect the health of Black women and their families such as lupus, sickle cell and hypertension. The chapters on the work of women tackling, for instance, child abuse, domestic violence and old age are stories of both despair and courage.

Given the need it is surprising that more has not been published on this subject. The book has contributions from Black women in America, including Angela Davis and Audre Lorde, as well as contributions from Black women working on health at a community level in this country. Many of the contributors have set up and run projects designed to help and support black women and are avid campaigners on these issues.

An important feature of this book is that it is written by and for Black women. There is an instant recognition of the similarities in our lives even if we have not shared the exact same experiences as the authors. This book serves a very important function in validating this experience as well as providing a very practical manual on dealing with health and well-being.