Aftershock and BIRTHING JUSTICE : A Case Study Analysis of How Popular Documentary Narratives Challenge Medical Racism in American OB/GYN Healthcare

As Black maternal death rates in the United States have hit crisis levels, doctors, research institutions, and scholars have made wide appeals for unique approaches to tackling this medical, social, and cultural problem. This essay critically analyzes the popular documentary texts, Aftershock and BIRTHING JUSTICE, to consider the rhetorical possibilities of Black birthing stories as an antidote to medical racism. The essay first introduces the discriminatory history of American obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) healthcare for Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC). We then call on theories of popular documentary, narrative criticism, and Black feminist media to advance the documentaries as a form of anti-racist health communication. The findings offer examples of how Black storytelling and Black medical agency disrupt hegemonic public discourses of American OB/GYN healthcare. Finally, we situate Black birthing stories as a movement of sustained activism through the cultural circulation of popular discursive counter-ideologies.