The NBWHP included spiritual health as an axis of health but did this in a way that serves as a model of how spirituality can be included within Black Disability Politics. Most importantly, the NBWHP did not promote any specific religious or spiritual beliefs. Instead the NBWHP centered spirituality, regardless of the faith practice, as a way for Black women to feel connected to a larger sense of purpose and for some as a way to feel some empowerment while dealing with disease or illness. Also notably the NBWHP did not prevent a critique of how religion and the church have oppressed Black women.

Inclusion of spiritual health as an axis of health

Vital Signs and Body and Soul discussed the history of practices in Black diasporic cultures that are similar to the botanica - small stores that sell herbal medicine and items central to religious, spiritual and ancestral practices that are common in Latinx communities. There are versions of these practices that are contemporarily used by antiracist and feminist activist organizations.

NBWHP's Health Project and non-Western Healing Practice

The NBWHP worked against the conspiracy of silence, the terminology used to refer to the idea that there was not much discussion between Black women and Black communities at large about health.

Emphasis on storytelling and hearing Black women's stories

The NBWHP stressed having programming and messaging created by and for a community they were targeting because often these programming and messages did not accurately represent the life situations and cultural context of a community. In addition, the NBWHP advocated for health officials and researchers to learn about culture and to create culturally competent public health initiatives.

Promotion of culturally informed public health initiatives

Gwen Braxton, a leader of the NBWHP's New York City chapter noted that often embedding cultural competency in programming was at odds with private foundation and government grant applications. Often these applications asked for measures of immediate and measurable impact which would not be easily discerned when you are creating programming that uniquely fits the needs of each community. Also, culturally competent programming requires that empowering the community which often does not neatly fit into the requirements of having a distinct organizational leader serving as the contact person between the program and the grant agency.

How the NBWHP Included Cultural Competency in Their Funding Proposals

The NBWHP continued to apply its overarching political, cultural, and holistic approach to health and wellness to how they understand the AIDS epidemic among Black women. Similar to previous work the NBWHP's approach was situated at the intersection of race and gender. The organization's work around HIV/AIDS included coverage of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, including a special issue dedicated to the epidemic, in the NWBHP's magazine Vital Signs, and a chapter on HIV/AIDS in the health self-help book Body and Soul: The Black Women's Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Wellbeing. The organization also had panels, speeches, and workshops at NBWHP annual conferences, a special conference on HIV/AIDS, and the NBWHP developed culturally specific HIV/AIDS programming.

How the NBWHP Actions During the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Are Reminiscent of Previous Work

- Inclusion of spiritual health as an axis of health.
- Emphasis on storytelling and hearing Black women's stories.
- Promotion of culturally informed public health initiatives

University of Wisconsin - Madison

The NBWHP did not equate culture and race. Culture for the NBWHP encompassed race, class, gender, religion, and geography. There was not one Black culture that the NBWHP created culturally competent programming for rather there was a variety of Black cultures.

How the NBWHP Defined Culture

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

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