Black Maternal Health Week

Under the Skin

The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)

By: Linda Villarosa
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Length: 10 hours 4 minutes

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • "A stunning exposé of why Black people in our society 'live sicker and die quicker'—an eye-opening game changer."—Oprah Daily

From an award-winning writer at the New York Times Magazine and a contributor to the 1619 Project comes a landmark book that tells the full story of racial health disparities in America, revealing... Read more

Pregnant While Black

Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America

By: Monique Rainford, MD
Narrated by: Monique Rainford, MD
Length: 7 hours 55 minutes

A tragedy is unfolding all around us and is receiving well overdue attention. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy than their white peers. But Dr. Monique Rainford is working to better understand these disparities and do something about them.



Pregnant While Black is a hopeful exploration of the issues pregnant Black women... Read more

Hood Feminism

Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot

By: Mikki Kendall
Narrated by: Mikki Kendall
Length: 6 hours 57 minutes

“Hood Feminism touches on many subjects that mainstream feminists may not think of as feminist issues. Issues like food and housing insecurity, parenting, and disability rights, among others. Mikki Kendall calls out mainstream feminism as existing only for the advancement of white women, to the detriment of women of color. Some of my biggest... Read more

Liberating Abortion

Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve

By: Renee Bracey Sherman & Regina Mahone
Narrated by: Deanna Anthony
Length: 14 hours 55 minutes

“A gift to future generations.”—Cecile Richards, author of Make Trouble“Our storytellers meet the moment with powerful insight and testimonials.”—Congresswoman Ayanna PressleyA galvanizing history of abortion recentering people of color to put forth a timely argument that we must liberate abortion for all.People of color have been having... Read more

Killing the Black Body

Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

By: Dorothy Roberts
Narrated by: Shayna Small
Length: 14 hours 38 minutes

This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years--using a black feminist lens and the issue of  the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on black women's--especially poor black women's--control over... Read more

Reproductive Injustice

Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth

By: Dána-Ain Davis
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
Length: 8 hours 27 minutes

Black women have higher rates of premature birth than other women in America. This cannot be simply explained by economic factors, with poorer women lacking resources or access to care. Even professional, middle-class black women are at a much higher risk of premature birth than low-income white women in the United States. Dána-Ain Davis looks... Read more

Motherhood So White

A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America

By: Nefertiti Austin
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
Length: 6 hours 34 minutes

In America, Mother = White



That's what Nefertiti, a single African American woman, discovered when she decided she wanted to adopt a black baby boy out of the foster care system. Eager to finally join the motherhood ranks, Nefertiti was shocked when people started asking her why she wanted to adopt a "crack baby" or said that she would never be... Read more

Parenting for Liberation

A Guide for Raising Black Children

By: Trina Greene Brown
Narrated by: Trina Greene Brown
Length: 3 hours 41 minutes

Speaking directly to parents raising Black children in a world of racialized violence, this guidebook combines powerful storytelling with practical exercises, encouraging listeners to imagine methods of parenting rooted in liberation rather than fear.



In 2016, activist and mother Trina Greene Brown created the virtual multimedia platform... Read more

We Live for the We

The Political Power of Black Motherhood

By: Dani McClain
Narrated by: Dani McClain
Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

A warm, wise, and urgent guide to parenting in uncertain times, from a longtime reporter on race, reproductive health, and politics

In We Live for the We, first-time mother Dani McClain sets out to understand how to raise her daughter in what she, as a black woman, knows to be an unjust -- even hostile -- society. Black women are more likely to... Read more

Take Care of Them Like My Own

Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon's Fight for Health Justice

By: Ala Stanford
Narrated by: Ala Stanford
Length: 11 hours 38 minutes

The founder of the Black Doctors Consortium shares her “inspiring story of overcoming mind-numbing obstacles” (Will Smith), highlighting the devastating racial injustices in our healthcare system in this empowering call to action.

Dr. Ala Stanford knew she wanted to be a doctor by the time she was eight years old. But role models were few and far... Read more

The Strong Black Woman

How a Myth Endangers the Physical and Mental Health of Black Women

By: Marita Golden
Narrated by: Diana Blue
Length: 6 hours 42 minutes

The Strong Black Woman Syndrome. For generations, in response to systemic racism, Black women and African American culture created the persona of the Strong Black Woman, a woman who, motivated by service and sacrifice, handles, manages, and overcomes any problem, any obstacle. The syndrome calls on Black women to be the problem-solvers and chief... Read more

My Black Motherhood

Mental Health, Stigma, Racism, and the System

By: Sandra Igwe
Narrated by: Sandra Igwe
Length: 6 hours 58 minutes

Joyful. Graceful. Blessed. Strong. Anxious. Depressed. Stigmatized. Stereotyped. What happens when motherhood isn’t what you expected—and when you reach out for support, you are met with judgment and prejudice? Sandra Igwe shares her journey as a young Black mother, coping with sleepless nights, anxiety, and loneliness after the birth of her... Read more

Birthing Justice

Black Women, Pregnancy, and Childbirth, Second Edition

By: Julia Chinyere Oparah & Alicia D Bonaparte
Narrated by: Deanna Anthony
Length: 12 hours 37 minutes

The second edition of this pathbreaking, widely taught book offers five new chapters, on breastfeeding and Black infant health; Black birthing during Covid; Black doulas rethinking birthing practices; the recent buildup of a US national movement; and expanding the global movement for sexual and reproductive wellbeing. Other chapters are updated... Read more

Black Women's Mental Health

Balancing Strength and Vulnerability

By: Stephanie Y. Evans, Kanika Bell & Nsenga K. Burton
Narrated by: Diana Blue
Length: 13 hours 10 minutes

Creates a new framework for approaching Black women's wellness, by merging theory and practice with both personal narratives and public policy.



This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women's struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from... Read more

Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant!

The Ultimate Guide to Black Pregnancy & Motherhood

By: Shanicia Boswell
Narrated by: Diana Blue
Length: 8 hours 48 minutes

Tailored to today's pregnant Black woman.



In the age of social media, how do pregnant women communicate their big announcement? What are the best protective hairstyles for labor? Most importantly, how many pregnancy guides focus on issues like Black maternal birth rates and what it really looks like to be Black, pregnant, and single today?... Read more

Battling Over Birth

Black Women and the Maternal Health Care Crisis

By: Helen Arega, Julia Chinyere Oparah, Dantia Hudson, Linda Jones & Talita Oseguera
Narrated by: Deanna Anthony
Length: 9 hours 43 minutes

Battling Over Birth: Black Women and the Maternal Health Care Crisis reveals hard truths—powerful findings on the role of racism, coercion, inadequate prenatal care, the pressures undermining breastfeeding, and the lack of access to alternatives to a broken maternal health-care system as key threads of black women's birth experiences.



Battling... Read more