Black Birthing Women: Two Students’ Reflections on the Film, “Birthing Justice”
A reflection by JHU students Hanna Closs and Yasmine Bolden
On Tuesday, April 11th, Johns Hopkins University hosted one of the many screenings happening across the country showcasing the debut of the film, Birthing Justice. This screening was put on by Dr. Lisa Wright, a professor at Johns Hopkins who currently teaches a Reintroduction to Writing course for First-Year students titled, “Black Birthing Women.”
Similar to the course material of the course, Birthing Justice is a film that focuses on the Black maternal health crisis, bringing to light the horrific disparities and stories of Black birth, usually caused by disregard from the medical system.
Olympic Champion Allyson Felix
Important figures were showcased and told their personal stories throughout the film, such as 7-time Olympic champion Allyson Felix, who suffered from severe preeclampsia and had to have an emergency c-section.
Stories throughout the film such as this one helped us realize many things about Black birthing women and their babies. Accrued fame and wealth does not provide immunity to black communities against poor health outcomes and conditions. Neither is going to a ‘trusted doctor’ — who many Black women go to because they know of their predispositions. Black women are four times more likely to die during childbirth compared to their white counterparts.
As the film progressed, it was easy to recognize just how disconnected the medical system has been and still is with Black patients – a disconnection that is constantly fueled by institutional inequity as well as a lack of critical reflection surrounding one’s own positionality, impact, and power.
Abraham Flexner
The film contained a segment centering around the renowned Abraham Flexner which underscored the vitality of Community-Based Learning (CBL) courses for the future medical professionals of Johns Hopkins University. The documentary explained that Flexner was a proponent of education reform and the man behind the infamous Flexner Report. This report perpetuated racist stereotypes about the suitability of African Americans to serve as medical professionals and led to the shuttering of nearly every Black medical school in the United States. Startingly, Flexner attended Johns Hopkins University. Living in a predominantly African American city and witnessing firsthand anti-Black medical inequalities did not help him to become a more equitable doctor.
Flexner’s legacy is a stark reminder for how crucial it is for the experience of living and belonging to Baltimore as a Hopkins student today to be critically reflected on so that students’ impact on Baltimore is intentional and aligned with the goals of Baltimoreans. These methods of critical reflection are currently being innovated within CBL courses, like the course that culminated in the Black Birthing Women screening, by faculty and their Community Partners.
By bringing light to this issue, Dr. Wright is bringing important discourse to the Hopkins campus on what it means to be an active citizen and how we can all be catalysts of change.
This event was made possible by support of the University Writing Program, the JHU Black Faculty and Staff Association, and the Center for Social Concern through the CBL mini-grant.