Rainy Day Books and Mission Vision Project KC present Dr. Uché Blackstock

EVENT OVERVIEW: Rainy Day Books and Mission Vision Project KC present Dr. Uché Blackstock as she discusses her her New York Times bestselling book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine on Friday, October 25, 2024 at 7PM at Unity Temple on the Plaza.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
The rousing, captivating story of a Black physician, her career in medicine, and the deep inequities that still exist in the U.S. healthcare system
Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians. In the 1980s, their mother headed an organization of Black women physicians, and for years the girls watched these fiercely intelligent women in white coats tend to their patients and neighbors, host community health fairs, cure ills, and save lives.
What Dr. Uché Blackstock did not understand as a child—or learn about at Harvard Medical School, where she and her sister had followed in their mother’s footsteps, making them the first Black mother-daughter legacies from the school—were the profound and long-standing systemic inequities that mean just 2 percent of all U.S. physicians today are Black women; the racist practices and policies that ensure Black Americans have far worse health outcomes than any other group in the country; and the flawed system that endangers the well-being of communities like theirs. As an ER physician, and later as a professor in academic medicine, Dr. Blackstock became profoundly aware of the systemic barriers that Black patients and physicians continue to face.
Legacy is a journey through the critical intersection of racism and healthcare. At once a searing indictment of our healthcare system, a generational family memoir, and a call to action, Legacy is Dr. Blackstock’s odyssey from child to medical student to practicing physician—to finally seizing her own power as a health equity advocate against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

REVIEWS:

ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTUAL PEOPLE IN GLOBAL HEALTH

“This book is more than a memoir—it also serves as a call to action to create a more equitable healthcare system for patients of color, particularly Black women.” —Essence
One of NPR’s 11 Books to Look Forward to in 2024
One of Good Morning America’s 15 New Books to Read for the New Year
“Legacy is both a compelling memoir and an edifying analysis of the inequities in the way we deliver healthcare in America. Uché Blackstock is a force of nature.” —Abraham Verghese, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant of Water
“[An] extraordinary family story.” —Dr. Damon Tweedy, The New York Times Book Review
“This book should be required reading for all medical students.” —Gayle King, CBS Mornings

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Uché Blackstock is a physician and thought leader on bias and racism in healthcare. She appears on air regularly as an MSNBC medical contributor and is the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, as well as a former associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the former faculty director for recruitment, retention, and inclusion in the Office of Diversity Affairs at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Blackstock received both her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, making her and her twin sister, Oni, the first Black mother-daughter legacies from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Blackstock currently lives in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, with her two small children.

ABOUT MISSION VISION PROJECT KC: MVP’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the Kansas City health care workforce drives their strategy. They know that a diverse and inclusive workforce is critical for our community’s well-being and improving health equity in our metro area. Simultaneously, they believe in the students in our community and honor their gifts, talents, and strengths by providing kindergarten through high school and post-secondary programing built around our core values of Excellence, Equity, Integrity, Compassion, and Resilience.

Their goals are to increase the number of qualified URM students interviewed and enrolled in medicine and direct care health profession programs, support URM matriculation, retention, and graduation rates in health profession programs, and increase the number of URM employed in the Kansas City metro healthcare workforce.

Please visit their website to get involved and donate.

EVENT DATE & TIME: Friday, October 25, 2024, at 7PM

EVENT LOCATION: Unity Temple on the Plaza 707 W 47th St, Kansas City, MO

ADMISSION PACKAGE: $32.00 (plus Eventbrite Ticket Fee) includes 1 signed copy of Legacy, 1 Admission Reservation, plus Guest. General Admission seating.

DISCLAIMER: All author event sales are final and non-refundable. Eventbrite ticket fees are non-refundable.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary, 707 W 47th Street, Kansas City, United States