Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination

The Black Panther Party's Health Activism: A Revolutionary Path to Social Justice is a groundbreaking book that sheds light on an indispensable aspect of the organization's struggle for social justice - healthcare.

Alondra Nelson, a renowned historian, delves into the party's network of free health clinics, campaigns to raise awareness about genetic diseases, and challenges to medical discrimination, revealing how their focus on healthcare was both practical and ideological.

Through extensive historical research and interviews with former members of the Black Panther Party, Nelson argues that the party's emphasis on healthcare was a recognition of poor blacks' underserved status by mainstream medicine and overexposure to its harms.

The book highlights the party's innovative approach to medical self-sufficiency among African Americans, providing basic preventive care, testing for lead poisoning and hypertension, and offering support with housing, employment, and social services.

Additionally, it explores the party's campaign to address sickle-cell anemia, including screening programs and educational outreach efforts, while exposing the racial biases of the medical system that had ignored this disease predominantly affecting people of African descent.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the Black Panther Party's broader struggle for social justice and the importance of healthcare as an integral part of it.