Get ready to be thrust into the world of Dr. Uché Blackstock in her debut book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine.
Blackstock’s story is even more incredible, when you look at the statistics. There are not enough Black women doctors. Less than 3% of physicians are Black women, and when it comes to academia, the numbers are even worse. “[O]nly 0.8% of full professors at US medical schools in 2020 were Black women.”
But “[g]rowing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians,” reads the book’s summary. And their dreams came to fruition. They would both go on to receive their undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, in doing so becoming “the first Black mother-daughter legacies from Harvard Medical School.”
While Blackstock does recount her own personal journey, this book is more than a memoir—it also serves as a call to action to create a more equitable healthcare system for patients of color, particularly Black women.
ESSENCE had the chance to sit down with Blackstock to discuss her family’s unique story, and what needs to change to ensure that Black women receive the best possible care.
“My mother, who I refer to as the original Dr. Blackstock, was truly my role model and idol,” says Blackstock. “Growing up, I actually thought that most physicians were Black women because of my mother and how we were exposed to Black physicians at an early age.”
But how did this doctor become an author? In 2019, Blackstock founded Advancing Health Equity “to close the gap in racial health inequities,” but it wasn’t until the pandemic that she became “motivated to write this book.”
“It revealed deep fissures in our healthcare system, especially the way that Black people in this country are harmed by it,” explained Blackstock. “Having that experience of knowing the healthcare system well from the inside as a Black physician myself, but also having been a patient as well and having a lived experience as a Black woman in this country, I feel like I have a very unique perspective.”
“I want people to understand how deeply rooted systemic racism is in our health care system, how that impacts what's happening, and that there are things that each and every one of us can do to improve the status quo,” continued Blackstock.
In the book, “I tell my Black patients. I say, ‘I see you, I understand what you’re going through. And I'm so sorry that the system has failed you.’ But I also offer a call to action to white health professionals and let them know it is their individual responsibility to look internally at their own biases that are absorbed by living in a society with racism,” said Blackstock.
“Racism has an insidious impact on our health. And I think sometimes people don't want to believe it.” This is why Blackstock felt compelled to share her story and why “it's important to see the stories of Serena Williams, Beyoncé, Tori Bowie and say, ‘this is not about socioeconomic status. This is not about race.’” However, “it is about racism. It is about how practices and policies play out in this country, and how they harm us and they shorten our lives and cause all sorts of medical complications.”
According to Blackstock, one thing is clear. “We know that while having more Black health professionals won't end racial health inequities, we know that it would make a huge difference.”
Ultimately, “I want people to understand that health is actually not just about the healthcare system. It's about investing in Black communities, whether that is in education, in jobs and housing, all of those are what we call the social determinants of health. All of those factors influence the health of our communities,” Blackstock relayed.