AUGUST 9 - 15, 1987 THE ICHIGAN CITIZEN
3
lac he I h needs hould be
elec ion issue, ays group
The Blac Congre on
Health, La and Economic
BCHLE, an umbrella organi
zatl n repre nting Black pro
fe ional or anization called
for n tional rategy to
addre the high morbidity and
mortality occuring dispropor
tionally in the Bl c com
munity.
The Congre ppealed to
all communities to hold incum
bant and political candidate
for local, tate and n tional
office count ble.
In re onse to the 1985
ep rt of the Secret ry of
HH' Ta Force on Blac
and inority Health hich
identID d alrno 60,000 exce
Bl death largely due to
categorie BCHLE
on
e
Continued from Pel
and child eleton are believed
to be the mo t significant
eletal sample of free Bl c s
ever di 0 ered arch eologically.
o four years after the
ele ons were excavated from
the long- bandon d cemetery of
Phil elphi' First African
Baptist Church th remains are
being reburied.
The Fir African B ptist
Church F cemetery w s
di overed in 1980 during con-
ruction of the Philadelphia
Comrnunter Rail Tunnel, accord
ing to an "Arch ology"
m azine article co-authored by
ich 1 Parrington of ilner
nd ciate the arch eological
fum .respon ible for the e ca
vation.
In 1984, the eletons were
shipped to th mithsonian
In tituti n' useum of atural
Hi tory in ashington D.C.
to be studi d under the
direction of Dr. J. Lawrence
An el the 1 te curator of
phy . cal anthropology.
Several of the n tion's le d
ing physical nthropologi ts have
been eng ged in a variety of
specialized udi to determine
the diets nutrition and health
of the F population, hop-
ing to rtain the cial
condition experienced by the
early orthern B1 age earn-
er .
Th elet proj ct i cur-
rently coordin ted by Prof.
Le ey in-Hill of the Uni
verisyt of the Di trict of
Columbi d Blakey in con
junct' n ith die Smith man'
anthropol department and
th archaeological fum of fi-
ner and iate
Blakey i ong c dre of
i ed ' Operation Taking group ."
Charge", a call for awarene Finally the Bl k Congre
within the Black community: called attention to the under-
• Since large portion of the representation of Blacks among
Bl c community are being physicians other health care
denied aeee to health care professi onals and other careers
becau of the lack of health in science, This problem
insurance, being under-insured constitute a Blac Brain Drain,"
and becau of adverse changes ated Art Coleman D execu-
the edicaid program, tive director of BCHLE.
BCHLE demands that thi be- In 19 5, the Ta Force
come an election i e. # Report identified di
The Bla Congre call categorie that ccounted for
on all component of the health 0% of all Black di a
care y em to ppoint Black They are: Diab te Cancer
to health policy decision-m ing Cardiovascular disea s Violence
po ition . (homicide suicides ace 'dents ,
Emphasis in the Blac com- Chemical Dependency Infant
munity mu be pl ced on ortality. They are sub an-
prevention early detection, and tially preventable.
teatment of di se ith pro- In ddition ince the T
gram targeted to Blac chil- Force Report was published,
dren and dolescent. it h s become clear that AIDS
and orking is al disproportionately ill-
be formed ing Blac Americans. Twenty-
among organiz tions five percent of adult AIDS
government enci s busine victim about 60% of children
indu ry, voluntary health and half of all women ith
organization and community IDS are Black.
FIGHT FOR FREEDO
ell story a
Philade phia's "freell B·lac
re archers applying state-of-the-
mehtods in eletal biology.
He has introduced new
method of dental-defect analysi
that measure the defects in the
dental enamel of eletons to
determine the duration of re s,
particularly from fetal life to
6� years of ge. This method
ed light on health conditions
by way of general stre indica-
tors.
'In any archaeologi al ex
cavation, the teeth are the
mo likely to be preserved.
It's very fortunate becau teeth
have some of the be t data"
he explains in an interview.
Data collected in the study
were compared with data on
slave and other skeletal popu
lations providing "hard biologi-
cal evidence on the relative
status and quality of life ex
perienced by free Blacks' the
researcher emphasize .
The re arch findings on
the free Black children caught
BI ey by surpri. I thought
these children would've had
somewhat better health than
the slaves children. But the
dental-defect analysis provide
no evidenc in pport of
better health, either as fetu
or children."
Some of the data from
other researcher in the pro
ject are till out he quickly
points out, and they may show
improved health among the
adults.
What Blakey finds really
ironic is that while only about
9 percent of Black Philadel
phians during 1823 to 1 43
were born into slavery, 30
percent of Bla k Philadelphia
Baptist ere born into avery
he say citing censu data.
He notes that Blac Baptists
may have been on the lowe t
rung of Philadelphia's cial
ladder, which may explain why
the free Blacks buried at the
First frican Baptist Church
suffered from condition similar
to slavery.
Although the Liberty Bell
city wa a m jor center for
abolitionist activity and
refuge for run-away slave cen
sus and other hi orical record
ppear to support the eletal
project' finding y Bl ey,
indicatin that many free
Blac were en aged in tren-
uou ork condition and were
victuns of vere cts of di
crimin tion.
Between 1829 and 1 43
the home and
free Blacks were
mob attacks and
were toned in
he y re ord sh
tudent from the predomi-
nantI Blac niversit of the
District of ell
a Ho ard niver ity played
'an integral role in the eletal
project Bl ey points out.
an Jenkins a Ho ard n
ior majoring in anthropol gy,
says he found malnutriti n a
one of the cau s of e treme
levels of stress that led t
high death rate among the free
Black, particularly am n
children. Their dental defe t
were equivalent to th found
in orth American and e t
Indian slave populati n
Bl ey' student e plains.
The study say J e in
'had a profound effe t and
influen e on me.' He n
plan to develop nior the i
focusing on oppre 'on am n
BI k people from th p r-
e tive of physi al anthr p l
ogy.
, e'r tryin to fill in me
of the gap in our under rand
in of African-Amen an hi
tory ," Bl ey tre s. • One
can talk bout impre i n of
hat life wa like f r slaves
and for BI c of th orth
but the eletal g ve
us relatively ob' ective a' s
for m in compari n.
This project help the pub
li understand the ignifican e
of di rimin ti n part fr m
very in American hist ry'
he dds noti that th re'
fro-