Award-winning documentary producer and author Crystal Emery recently launched a new campaign and initiative called “Changing the Face of Medicine.” Its inaugural event featured a book signing of her biographical photo essay entitled “Against All Odds: Celebrating Black Women in Medicine,” December 1, 2015. For more than 30 years, Emery has been engaged with art and social justice initiatives grounded in the fight for equality and education.
Her nonprofit, URU The Right To Be, strives to foster communication and understanding among diverse racial, social and economic groups about the issues affecting these groups and our community by using the arts to demonstrate that such communication and understanding is possible.
In this book, “Against All Odds,” Crystal Emery has captured and celebrated the advances of Black women in medicine in order to empower the next generation. Despite decades of advances, the number of Black female physicians has remained at levels that are shockingly low: approximately 2 percent.
“We who have been wounded by these healthcare disparities – physically, psychologically, and spiritually – are coming together to model a new vision of healthcare and one that includes people who are dark-skinned, or coffee-colored, or with beautiful African-American features. The healthcare world awaits us,” said Dr. Karen Morris-Priester.
The book may be ordered at: http://www.changingthefaceofmedicine.org/orderbook/against-all-odds/.
About Changing the Face of Medicine:
“Changing the Face of Medicine” is a groundbreaking multimedia documentary project and educational initiative that celebrates the history, status and future of women of color in medicine. Cultivated through the lens of artist, producer, and director, Crystal Emery, “Changing the Face of Medicine” follows the journey of Black women doctors from inequality to excellence.
By introducing their stories to the greater medical community and our society at large, the project works as an agent of social change to inspire a new generation of doctors of all races and genders. Built from the achievements, intelligence, and grace of over 100 Black women doctors, the project has been described by filmmaker Bill Duke as an “educational and artistic tour de force.” Information: http://www.changingthefaceofmedicine.org/.
For information on URU The Right To Be, visit: http://www.urutherighttobe.org/.
