November/December 2004

CONTENTS

ISSUES & VIEWS
— Hope in the Unseen
Despite the endless stream of stories of war, genocide and corruption, there is plenty of promise in Africa.
By Howard W. French

FEATURES
— The State of Black Health
    Race for the Cure
* The fight for quality health care is the new civil rights battle. Forty-five million Americans, most of them employed, do not have health insurance. With health disparities jeopardizing the well-being of African Americans and in many cases hastening death, what is the prescription for improvement?
By Lottie L. Joiner
Plus Special reports on heart disease, cancers, obesity and smoking

— The New Face of AIDS
The 24-year-old epidemic is now the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25 and 34.
By Ervin Dyer

— Mind Over Matter
A conversation about African American mental health — including discussion of depression, suicide, overcoming stigma and the role of
faith in healing — with Annelle Primm, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of psychiatry, and author and journalist John Head.
Interview by Robin D. Stone

Cover: Brian Stauffer for The Crisis

DEPARTMENTS
- Editor's Note

- Letters

- Up Front: Assessing Election 2004; Preserving the footsteps of civil rights history; Why has a young Black woman’s disappearance yielded little news coverage?; Alabama voters uphold school segregation language; New report shows color line still persists; High school debate coach wins MacArthur “genius” award
Questions: Eddie N. Williams reflects on his tenure at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

- Crisis Forum
* Gallery: Exploring the Underground Railroad in Cincinnati
* Theater: Director Kenny Leon returns to Broadway with a “Gem”
* Media: Keith Knight’s cartoons make readers “(Th)ink”
* Books:
— Reviews of Open House: Of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons, and the Search for a Room of My Own by Patricia Williams;
— Freedom’s Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle Against Racism in America, 1909-1969 by Gilbert Jonas; and two biographies:
— Born to Win: The Authorized Biography of Althea Gibson by Frances Clayton Gray and Yanick Rice Lamb and Bruce Schoenfeld’s The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton, How Two Outsiders — One Black, the Other Jewish — Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History

- Backstory: Jimmie Briggs offers a heart-felt account of his health care crisis

- The NAACP Today
* Addressing health disparities;
* National membership drive;
* Branch News: Prairie View A&M University;
* Resolutions

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The State of
African American
Health