Black Doctors Telling the Stories of Black Mothers

By Retired Colonel Alicia Y. Christy, MD, MHSCR, FACOG

For Women’s History Month, I uplift the women doing much-needed work to combat the historical inequities in Black women’s maternal mortality rates. The maternal health crisis in the United States disproportionately affects Black women, and there is therefore an urgent call to action.

One of the people answering the call is Tonya Wright, MD, FACOG, whose maternal mortality advocacy work inspired my painting Black Mothers Must Matter. Dr. Wright uses art to educate, advocate, and heal. During Black Maternal Health Week 2024, Dr. Wright will affirm her commitment to combating the maternal mortality crisis through education initiatives for patients and medical professionals. Black birthing individuals will be invited to attend a community event, where they will participate in a keynote address and roundtable discussions by health experts on vital components of prenatal, antenatal, and postpartum care. Throughout these sessions, art will be used as a common thread, admixed with other powerful tools for educating, advocacy, and healing. Various artworks that were created by international artists based on the theme of Black Maternal Health will be exhibited during the event in an effort to stimulate dialogue, awareness and ultimately affect change. I was charged with creating a powerful image to be used throughout the event, and painted Black Mothers Must Matter.

I chose to paint a portrait of Colonel Torie Plowden, MD, FACOG. Dr. Plowden is an Army physician and ACOG Fellow. She has published extensively on reproductive health disparities, and I served with her on ACOG’s Committee on Advancing Equity in Obstetric and Gynecologic Health Care, which works to ensure ACOG’s continuing leadership role in increasing social and racial justice in obstetric and gynecologic care. The image and our comments serve as a call to action, and a reminder that birthing while Black should be a safe and joyful experience. As Black physicians and mothers, we feel a special duty to be a voice for Black mothers.

Alicia Christy, MD, FACOG, is an ACOG member, retired army physician, activist, and watercolor artist. After her retirement in 2023 she joined the veteran artist group Uniting US, a nonprofit that empowers and inspires veterans and their families and helps them heal through art, and continued her work as an advocate for active duty and veterans with ACOG and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

The national theme for this year’s Women’s History Month is Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Our members exemplify this theme every day in their practices, in their communities, and in their advocacy with ACOG. This March, we’d love to hear from ACOG members about women you admire who speak out to advance equity, diversity and inclusion – or how you have committed yourself to do so and why that work is critical. 

Please join us in sharing your thoughts by emailing [email protected] (include a headshot!) to be featured on ACOG’s website, in our newsletters, and on our social media.