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May 1, 2026

Citations in our reporting from CDC · NIH · American Heart Association · ACOG · APA · NAACP · Kaiser Family Foundation · JAMA · NEJM · The Lancet

Denzel Washington got his minister's license at 70. The Black church he's stepping into is one of the largest open frontiers in Black men's mental health.

In December 2024, days before his 70th birthday, Denzel Washington got baptized and received his minister's license at Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem. His late father was a Pentecostal minister. The …

Malik Johnson Apr 30, 2026 7 min read

Mental Health

DeMar DeRozan said he was depressed in a tweet in 2018. Eight years later his book is still doing the cultural work for Black men talking about mental health.

Malik Johnson Apr 30

Medical Specialty

Tina Knowles disclosed her stage 1 breast cancer in 2025. The mammogram she almost skipped is exactly the screening conversation Black women need.

Malik Johnson Apr 30

This week

Editor's note

This week, we are focusing on a question that affects millions of Black families: why does the American healthcare system consistently underestimate Black patients' pain? From obstetric complications dismissed as exaggerated to sickle cell crises undertreated in emergency rooms, the data on pain bias in medicine are now overwhelming. Our lead story this week reports the research in depth and speaks to the Black clinicians building the evidence base to change it. If this reporting matters to you, share it and sign up for our newsletter below.

From our editor, Simone Abara, May 1, 2026

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Conference / summit

Black Maternal Mental Health Summit 2026 (In-Person)

May 5, 2026

Compton, CA

Health fair Free

Wellness Without Walls 2026 — NC100BW Metro Atlanta Community Health Fair

May 16, 2026

Atlanta, GA

Walk / Run / Ride

5th Annual Black Mothers' Wellness 5K

May 17, 2026

Houston, TX

Education

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Black LGBTQ+ Health

Black LGBTQ+ people face the sharpest within-Black health disparities in the United States. Black men who have sex with men …

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Black Women's Health

Black women in the United States face the widest maternal mortality gap in the high-income world. In 2023, the Black …

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Black Men's Health

Black men develop heart failure at a median age of 39, two decades before white peers, per the CARDIA cohort …

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Kids and Teens

Approximately 1 in 365 Black or African American babies is born with sickle cell disease, and about 1 in 13 …

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Seniors

Black seniors are Medicare-enrolled at similar rates to white seniors but receive less hospice, more intensive end-of-life procedures, and fewer …

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Data

Black health by the numbers

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Chronic Disease

1 in 365

Black American births inherit sickle cell disease — making it the most common genetic disease in the Black community

Updated April 1, 2026

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2.4M

Black Americans fell into the Medicaid coverage gap in states that have not expanded — losing access to subsidized coverage

Updated March 30, 2026

View data Maternal & Reproductive

3.3×

Black women die from pregnancy-related causes at 3.3 times the rate of white women

Updated March 15, 2026

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Policy

Health Policy Watch

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Active Federal

H.R. 3888

PFAS Clean Water Act

Environmental justice research consistently shows Black and low-income communities bear disproportionate PFAS exposure. A 2021 Nature Communications study …

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Critical Federal

H.R. 567