ABOUT
Born out of a pandemic, but not defined by it, COVID Black started in April 2020 with a call to faculty in colleges and universities to demand that their local and state public health departments collect and publish racial data on the coronavirus pandemic. Recognizing the power of health data and information combined with critical and justice-oriented theoretical frameworks, COVID Black told empowering stories about Black life that address racial health disparities.
Since that time, COVID Black has evolved from a stand-alone initiative into one of several projects hosted at the Black Health Heritage Data Lab, which is in the department of Africana Studies at Brown University. The Black Health Heritage Data Lab draws on the work done by COVID Black to accelerate and facilitate black digital humanities critical data studies and data science to advance health equity for Black communities within health information technology.
To read more about this work, visit bhhd.brown.edu
WHAT WE DO
Problems We Solve
We help health care organizations, academic institutions and Black communities solve problems about Black health through data storytelling and innovative learning solutions.
Data is more than facts and statistics. Black health data represents life. We redefine traditional health data into living data and mixed media stories about the lived Black health experience. Our Black health data stories aid in the fight for health equity and the efforts to end racial health disparities that impact Black diasporic communities and other people of color.
FOCUS AREAS
At the center of our work are five key areas which emphasize living data and Black digital ethics, standards that are dedicated to ensuring autonomy and that the dignity of Black people and their experiences are respected on the Internet.
Black Health Information focuses on the data and discourse which circulates on and around the subject of Black health. These conversations around the intersection of health and the Black community include but are not limited to immunity and the immune system, comorbidities, the spread of viruses and disease, as well as information on risk factors. Information, as well as mis/disinformation, spreads through networks of influence, whether that be from news sources, social media, and community members. Black health information also includes the exchange of grassroots knowledge and how Black communities discuss the importance of health within individuals and the collective.
Healthcare systems focuses on the collection of Black health data and interactions with medical institutions and officials in order to examine the intersections of race, public health, and policy. Specifically, this area of focus is concerned with how data is collected, or not collected, by institutions of health as well as how Black people are treated, or not treated, within medical systems. Institutional Health Care also explores the “outsider-within” experiences of Black people who work with and within medical institutions, such as doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals and administrators.
Black Lived Experience focuses on local and community-based living data.These lived experiences are up to date and in the moment collections of what it is like to live and breathe in a society rife with health disparity and social inequity. Living data focuses on topics which are relevant to the day-to-day experiences of Black diasporic people, such as food desserts and gentrification, as well inequalities in income, housing, employment, and access to education and technology.
Black Sociopolitical Communities focuses on data that captures the politics of Black communities by asking “Who do we define as members of the Black community?” and “How does in-group and out-group discourse determine Black identity?” The Black community is diasporic and continental, intersectional and heterogeneous, with a mixture of community identifications and counterpublics within it. Embedded in Black sociopolitical communities are intra-group differences which include, but are not limited to, stratifications in socioeconomic status, age and generational differences, dis/abilities, regional and cultural specificities, religion and spiritual practices, intersectional marginalization, and LGBTQIA+ identities.
Community-focused research focuses on data innovation in multiple academic fields and disciplines in order to better serve Black communities. This focus on community is a return to the roots of Black Studies which established the relationship between theory and praxis to empower the voices and experiences of Black people over the prominence of institutional knowledge.
OUR TEAM
Kim Gallon, PhD, MS, MLIS
Founder and Executive Director
Kim Gallon, PhD, MS, MLIS
Founder and Executive Director
Expertise in health data analytics, text and data mining; network analysis of the history of race and public health Information; instructional design; e-learning development; project management.
Joan Mukogosi, BA
Program Coordinator
Joan Mukogosi, BA
Program Coordinator
Expertise in public health data research; critical digital technologies; project management.
Taylor Anderson
OUR ALUMNI
- Peace Ossom Williamson, MLS, MS
- Romae Morgan, MPH
- Ciiara Gallon, MSW
- Amanda Holman, BS, MS
- Karmen Cooper, MA, MEd, MS
- Alec Jordan, BA
- Cristy Kennedy
- Calil Morris
- Isabella Morris