BIRMINGHAM--On Friday Oct. 15 at the Sheraton Hotel, renowned poet Maya Angelou spoke at the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center Inaugural Luncheon. The writer came to Birmingham to give strength to MHDR’s mission, and is best known for her six-volume autobiography, which focuses on her experiences as a young woman.
“Rewriting her story: Put Yourself in Her Shoes” was the name of the fundraiser luncheon in which MHDR hopes to reach funds to achieve health equality via research, education and outreach programs. The event counted not only the distinguished speaker Angelou, but also such honorable guests as Birmingham Mayor Sr. Mayor William A. Bell, UAB’s president Dr.Garrison and Provost Eli Capilouto.
Dr. Mona Foad, MD, Ph.D is the Director of MHDRC. She organized the luncheon and for her the program is to “reduce health gaps and empower undeserved women and girls to lead healthier lives and take charge of their futures.”
According to research from the Centers for Disease control and the US department of Health and Human Services, 50 percent of African American women are obese. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing many health problems. Moreover, African-American women are both more likely to get breast cancer before age 40 and are more likely to die from the disease than white women are.
Not only that, but Hispanic-American women are twice as likely as non-Hispanic white women to have cervical cancer and African-American women are 29 percent more likely to die from heart disease than white women; nearly 27 percent of African-American women have high blood pressure compared to 20 percent of white women.
In addition, 3.2 million African-American women age 20 years or older have diabetes; they are almost twice as likely as white women to have the disease.
The luncheon sold out tickets at $100 aimed to eliminate the disproportional occurrences of diseases on Hispanic and African American Women.
The poet who is celebrating her 82nd birthday this year was humoristic and enthusiastic, she emphasized the need of courage to overcome obstacles and achieve virtues. She linked stories of her upbringing in the segregated Stamps, Arkansas to the poetic value of African American poetry and the disproportional burden of illnesses among women of color. She used poetry to associate one theme to the other ,as she recited Langston Hughes’ Harlem Sweetness. “Ginger, wine-gold, /Persimmon, blackberry, /All through the spectrum/Harlem girls vary/So if you want to know beauty/Rainbow-sweet thrill,/Stroll down luscious,/Delicious, fine Sugar Hill.”
She declaimed Anne Spencer’s Letter to My Sister and Edna St Vincent Millay’s Conscientious Objector.
Angelou also spoke about her childhood, her volunteer muteness from age 7 to 13 and how that influenced her on speaking again through poetry.
“I spent so many years being silent that I now want to speak many languages,” she said.
All of her speech and strong language was to “encourage lives of people names you’ll never see and faces you’ll never see,” as put by Angelou.
“At the MHRC, we are working to rewrite this storyline,” says Dr.Moad. And because a mission like this “requires creative and inspired thinking,” Maya Angelou came in good time, to be inspiration and strength.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Monday, October 18th 2010 at 2:18PM
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