Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study (pdf) describing nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke, the toxic vapors given off by a smoldering cigarette, pipe or cigar, or by a smoker exhaling smoke fumes.   Even though blacks and whites smoke at approximately the same rate—and despite a two-decade-long public health…

It’s really not that “complicated,” #RachelDolezal. Because, no, you didn’t “go there with the experience”; no, you’re not a black hairdresser; no, you didn’t have to play black to be your black children’s mom; and no, this discussion about race and what it means to be black—while rich and important and long overdue—hasn’t occurred “at…

In April, the United States Preventive Services Task Force proposed new breast-cancer screening guidelines that advise women to get their first mammogram, the test that screens for breast cancer, at age 50 and then once every two years thereafter. These recommendations are at odds with long-standing advice from organizations like the American Cancer Society, the American…

Add it to the list of slavery and Jim Crow’s legacies: the tendency to look after other people’s well-being at the expense of ourselves. But 150 years after the “peculiar institution’s” end, many black women tend to their jobs, their children and their partners—even their hair—before taking care of their own health. The tragic consequence…

When I worked with Mo’ne Davis to write her new book, Mo’ne Davis: Remember My Name: My Story From First Pitch to Game Changer, I met a 13-year-old who epitomizes the benefits of girls’ involvement in sports. Of course, I already knew about Mo’ne’s women’s-history-making Little League pitching performances, when she struck out scores of…

Last week’s preacher scandal has enough intrigue and heat for a ShondaLand soap or reality show. But once you get past all the drama in the Rev. Juan D. McFarland’s Montgomery, Ala., church, it’s clear that many of us still have some important lessons to learn about sexually transmitted diseases. If you’re not already up…

On Thursday the Minnesota Vikings’ star running back, Adrian Peterson, was indicted (pdf) on charges of “injury to a child” for striking his 4-year-old son with a tree branch—what many African Americans would call a whipping with a “switch.” CBS Houston reports that the boy’s pediatrician reported his injuries to police; TMZ has published photos that it…

Every year the equivalent of an airplaneful of women wind up dying when their minimally invasive surgery to remove fibroids or their uterus accidentally spreads undiagnosed uterine cancer. Many of those women are black, yet few of them fully understand the risks. A growing body of evidence suggests that many women should steer clear of…

Last week a 40-year-old man who was infected with the Ebola virus flew to Lagos, Nigeria, from Liberia, stopping over in Ghana and changing planes in Togo—coming into contact with countless people along the way. This man, whose sister had died from Ebola, began exhibiting symptoms aboard the flight to Nigeria, was hospitalized after landing…

Editor’s note: This is part 1 of the four-part series Keeping Black Men Healthy, in honor of National Minority Health Month. Read part 2 here. If you notice that you and your male sexual partner have started butting heads as bedtime draws near, it may be because he’s struggling to perform sexually but doesn’t want you…