Black Middle-class Women And Pregnancy Loss

Black Middle-Class Women and Pregnancy Loss: A Qualitative Inquiry is the first qualitative research case study of its kind focused on Black American born middle-class professional married women who have all lived through infant loss. This study examines the Infant Mortality disparity (blacks 12.40, whites 5.35) outside the poverty paradigm, with probable implications for minority groups in England and Wales, (having a similar racial history to the U.S) with Caribbean and Pakistani IM rates being more than twice that of white British babies.

Review: In Black Middle-Class Women and Pregnancy Loss, Lisa Paisley-Cleveland exposes another one of the many hidden injuries of racism: black women are twice as likely as their less well-off white counterparts to deliver babies who die before age one. The eight moving pregnancy stories importantly challenge the prevailing stereotyped explanations of Black Infant Mortality (BIM) as due to poverty and or 'personal irresponsibility.' Instead this short, well-researched, and highly readable book tellingly exposes how for years institutionalized racism and internalized oppression have worked their way through the lives of women simply trying to build a family.

By increasing the public awareness about BIM, the words of Dr. Paisley-Cleveland and the women who opened their lives to her will advance needed change in the health care system and wider society. -- Miriam Abramovitz, Hunter College, CUNY and the CUNY Graduate Center This is the first time that I have read a work about this subject matter that does not do the following, 1) place all the weight on the overarching social and health system institution or 2) place all the blame on the individual.

The author effectively creates synergy between institutional and individual factors which creates a sense of hope, unlike other works that can create a sense of anxiety and hopelessness by making the problem seem too grand. -- Xenia Acquaye, American Cancer Society