Trinity’s Women’s Herstory Month Keynote Honors Women’s Leadership and Empowerment

As the keynote event in Trinity College’s celebration of Women’s Herstory Month, the Women and Gender Resource Action Center (WGRAC) and the Women’s Herstory Month Committee invited Oni Blackstock, M.D., and Uché Blackstock, M.D., to participate in a discussion called, “Women’s Leadership: Experiencing & Exposing Racism in Health Care.”

The March 11 event at the Cornelia Center was moderated by Mya White ’25 and Narlin Chimbo Once ’25, who asked the physicians about their lives as fraternal twins, Harvard Medical School graduates, physicians, mothers, and daughters.

“Our journey began with our family, in particular our mother,” said Oni. “She was born in Brooklyn, was raised by a single mother, was the first person in our family to go to college, and then attended Harvard Medical School. She came back to Harlem Hospital and spent the rest of her career in central Brooklyn. She would take us to work with her and we would see her talking to her patients. It was clear she derived so much joy from her work. I never considered doing anything else besides being a physician… Our mother has been a role model for us. She passed away from a rare leukemia at 47, the age we are now.”

Uché added, “Not only was she a tremendous human being, but her role modeling [showed us] that you can go to these prestigious institutions and then you can choose to make a conscious decision to come back and work in the community that raised you. Our mother wasn’t just tending to her patients, she was tending to her neighbors.”

Uché Blackstock said that the title of her book, Legacy: A Black Physician’s Reckons with Racism in Medicine, uses the word “legacy” to convey a double meaning. “First, being a second-generation Black woman physician, which you know Oni just mentioned less than 2.8 percent of physicians are Black women, so that’s something that’s still quite rare. I wanted to make sure to bring attention to that,” she said. “The other legacy is the legacy of systemic racism in medicine and healthcare. I want to help people connect the dots as to why in 2025, despite the innovations in technology, we are still often seeing worsening outcomes in Black communities.”

Oni Blackstock is the founder of Health Justice, a consulting practice focusing on race and health equity. She primarily focuses on HIV research. “Before the pandemic, we were on track to end HIV by 2050. The pandemic and the current administration have the potential to reverse the gains that we’ve made over the last 40 years of the HIV epidemic,” she said. “I don’t know of any other medical condition that has such stark disparity: about 80 to 90 percent of HIV diagnoses are in Black and Latinx people in the United States.”

Oni added that while systemic issues feel very large and daunting to face, individuals still can make a difference. “I recommend picking one or two issues that you care about and figure out how to support. It may be money, volunteering, a skill that groups could use like budgeting or accounting,” she said. “Things feel very bleak… I do feel encouraged that we will persist.”

Chimbo Once had a chance to reflect on the event and her role in it. “It truly felt like a privilege to be in conversation with Drs. Blackstock—it was a mesmerizing experience,” she said. “I already knew a lot about Dr. Uché Blackstock because of her book, Legacy, but I was especially curious to learn more about Dr. Oni and her work in HIV. Their presence tied perfectly into Women’s Herstory Month because of their stories; we’re still celebrating Black women’s firsts, and their legacy is a powerful example of that.”

Laura Lockwood M’95, director of WGRAC, which is with Trinity’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, said, “In sync with WGRAC’s mission and the aim of the Women’s Herstory Month Committee, Doctors Uché and Oni Blackstock exemplified women’s leadership while encouraging women’s agency and empowerment. Their warmth and graciousness created space for vulnerability, honesty, and sobering reality. They are their mother’s ‘legacy’ as they carry her passion and determination to redress the systemic racial inequities and injustices heaped upon the Black community, particularly on Black women.”

The event continued with an audience Q&A and a book signing. “The excited buzz and feedback during the book signing and discussion demonstrated what the WHM Committee had hoped for: students, staff, faculty, and community members attending in-person and virtually were moved to talk—and listen—as a first step towards greater awareness, and ultimately action,” Lockwood said. “There is an urgent need to collectively expose and confront systemic racism, and demand change. Uché and Oni generously and urgently give us the blueprint for action.”

Trinity’s 2025 Women’s Herstory Month programming, “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations,” included an opening celebration called “Beauty Across Cultures,” art exhibits, workshops, talks, concerts, and other special events. The month concludes with the annual Women’s Appreciation Dinner hosted by the Men of Color Alliance (M.O.C.A.) on March 27. Lockwood and four students—Kijari Boyd ’26, Jade Burnett ’26, Katherine Theberge-Torres ’28, and Mya White ’25—will attend the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Young Feminist Leadership Conference (NYFLC) from March 29 to 31, in Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.