Throughout the years, African Americans have made invaluable contributions to public health. However, these accomplishments often go unrecognized and underreported due to a myriad of reasons, including pervasive systemic racism in the U.S.

CSTE and the public health community have a responsibility to understand the historical effect of racism in our field and highlight the people who moved health equity forward despite that.

It’s important to recognize progress has been made. In 2021, CDC officially declared racism as a public health crisis, stating: “The future health of the nation will be determined to a large extent by how effectively we work with communities to eliminate health disparities.”

In that spirit, here are five resources to help better understand the full story of African Americans and public health.

• Learn more about specific individuals: Trust for America’s Health put together a comprehensive overview of 13 African Americans that contributed greatly to public health throughout U.S. history. And more specific to our field, last year’s CSTE Black History Month blog featured the groundbreaking accomplishments of African American epidemiologists.

• Understand the connection between racism and public health: In 2021, Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine published “Why Racism Is a Public Health Issue,” an article detailing the impact of racism on public health over time.

• Take a deeper dive into history: Health Affairs’ “Racism & Health in U.S. Medicine: A Conversation with Harriet A. Washington” is a 30-minute discussion covering key moments in the history of racism in medicine and research. Ms. Washington is the author of Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.

• For the literary minded: CSTE was honored to have Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones speak at the 2022 CSTE Annual Conference, where she delivered an excellent plenary lecture about racism in public health. We suggest reading her allegory The Gardener’s Tale, which illustrates the impacts of racism on health and offers a starting point for discussions you could have in your community. Dr. Jones is a family physician, epidemiologist, and former president of the American Public Health Association.

• For the science minded: CDC’s “Racism and Health – Science and Research” web portal is a hub for research and scientific studies demonstrating how racism itself—above and beyond other social determinants of health—negatively impacts health outcomes.

For Black History Month resources beyond public health, visit https://www.blackhistorymonth.gov/ for a collection sourced from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, and the National Gallery of Art, among others.

And remember, you can get involved with CSTE, too! Our Health Equity subcommittee meets bi-monthly and aims to address racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health injustices. Learn more.