Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired Black Women's Health Activism in America, 1890-1950 Susan L. Smith

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired is the first full scale examination of the public health initiatives created by African Americans. The book argues that health reform was a cornerstone of early black civil rights activity in the United States. In an era of legalized segregation, health improvement was tied to the struggle for social change. The twentieth-century black health movement was gendered to the extent that men held most of the formal leadership positions and women did most of the grassroots organizing. Women were at the heart of health reform in their work as midwives, nurses, teachers, home demonstration agents, club women and sorority members. They carried out community health work and sustained projects that were part of the National Negro Health Movement. In this carefully documented book, Susan L. Smith demonstrates that there is a continuous unbroken line of black women's health activism since at least the 1890's. Based on oral histories, government records, and manuscript collections at historically black colleges, Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired moves beyond the depictions of African Americans as mere recipients of aid or as victims of neglect and highlights the ways black health activists created public health programs and influenced public policy at every opportunity. Smith also sheds new light on the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by situation it within the context of black public health activity, reminding us that public health work had oppressive as well as progressive consequences.

Contents Crusades for Public Health: Black Club Women and Public Health Work Spreading the Gospel of Health: Tuskegee Institute and National Negro Health Week A New Deal for Black Health: Community Activism and the Office of Negro Health Work Good Intentions and Bad Blood in Alabama: From the Tuskegee Movable School to the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment The Public Health Work of Poor Rural Women: Black Midwives in Mississippi Health Project Sharecroppers and Sorority Women: The Alpha Kappa Alpha Mississippi Health Project