In the United States Black women are three times more likely to have pregnancy related death causes than White women. These disparities persist regardless of income or education level, and they are even more pronounced for Black women with low socioeconomic status. These disparities are deeply rooted in a history of systemic racism and discrimination, including in the medical field of gynecology, where white male doctors exploited the bodies of Black enslaved women. They held racist and sexist beliefs and believed that Black women did not experience pain in the same way that white women did. Doctors who you are supposed to trust with your health are also characterizing Black patients as “stoic” and “resistant to pain”.

The devastating truth is death from causes such as hemorrhage, preeclampsia, cardiomyopathy, infection, and blood clots can be prevented with attentiveness . Many Black women report symptoms days or weeks before emergencies occur, but those warnings are often dismissed. When pain, shortness of breath, headaches, or swelling are ignored, intervention comes too late. Black women not being treated fairly affects the entire Black community socially, economically, and emotionally. Black women are often anchors of the family, when they are neglected children lose their caregivers, families are faced with financial strain, and creates generational trauma.

As a Sophomore Nursing major at Morgan State University, it is ingrained in our curriculum that health disparities are real and need to be addressed in every conversation. Many nursing programs emphasize clinical competence without fully addressing how implicit bias shapes patient care. At Morgan State professors are intentional about filling that gap. We discuss how Black women are more likely to have their symptoms dismissed, their pain minimized, and their concerns labeled as exaggeration or anxiety. We examine case studies where warning signs were ignored—not because they were unclear, but because the patient was Black. My dedication to making sure Black Women are able to speak up and get the care they need grows more and more at my HBCU. Saving lives requires cultural awareness, historical knowledge, and moral courage. HBCUs are pushing us nurses to not only acknowledge this problem but also challenge it.