How Polly Abarca Fought to Bring Birth Control to South Texas
The nurse and activist helped secure the country’s first federal family-planning grant, which became a national model.
March 9, 2021
Apolonia “Polly” Abarca (back row, left) and other student nurses outside their dorm at the Corpus Christi School of Nursing in the 1940s.
U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History/Voces Oral History Center/University of Texas at Austin
Texans You Should Know is a series highlighting overlooked figures and events from Texas history.
As dozens of kids played together on the front lawn of a Corpus Christi home, their mothers gathered in the living room. There, nurse Apolonia “Polly” Abarca displayed pamphlets and showed an educational film about family planning. The women played games, with winners taking home prizes that included books on birth control.
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A recent survey of the approximately 274,000 City University of New York (CUNY) students published in the
Journal of Urban Health found that the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on their mental health and financial security.
The population-representative survey, conducted by a team of CUNY SPH faculty in collaboration with researchers at Healthy CUNY, found that more than half of CUNY students (54%) reported experiencing depression and/or anxiety in April 2020, at the height of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, they found disturbingly high levels of financial instability and noted that food insecurity and housing worries were strong predictors of anxiety/depression in multivariable models.
10 best things our critics are watching this week From Oprah s Delilah to Aubrey Plaza s Black Bear, here s what we re tuning into right now.
By Neal Justin, Chris Hewitt, Jon Bream and Jenna Ross March 4, 2021 6:47am Text size Copy shortlink: Delilah
The next great legal drama comes courtesy of Craig Wright, the former Minnesotan whose credits include Six Feet Under and Dirty Sexy Money. Wright has assembled a top-notch cast of Black actors, playing three-dimensional women on different sides of a compelling case that tests family ties and friendships. Maahra Hill is terrific as the title character, going up against corporate America with the kind of determination and fashion sense that would make Erin Brockovich beam with pride. 8 p.m. Tuesday, OWN (Neal Justin)
50 Companies Founded by Black Entrepreneurs
By Peter Richman, Stacker News
On 2/26/21 at 8:00 PM EST
The entrepreneurial spirit is a cornerstone of American culture, but history books too often leave out the extensive contributions of minorities and women. In honor of Black History Month, Stacker is shining a light on 50 Black entrepreneurs who made a lasting influence on the business world and, often in the process, civil rights from the Revolutionary War to today.
The abrupt end to slavery in 1865 following the conclusion of the Civil War freed about 4 million people but left them without a clear trajectory forward. Black Codes afforded freed people the right to sue in court and marry but stipulated other discriminatory rules like keeping them from serving on juries or in state militias.