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Ashley Dedmon, a passionate author and advocate for family health history in the black community, recently published a children’s book titled The Big Family Trip: Helping Families to Share Their Family Health History. The mother of two created the book, filled with images of black characters as a resource, to help guide families into those important conversations about health and wellness.
The importance of health is a topic that Dedmon has prioritized for years, growing up in a household where open dialogue around health was the norm. After testing positive for BRCA2 gene mutation, a gene known to increase the risk of breast, ovarian, and other cancers, Dedmon decided that she could use her voice and her story to possibly prevent others from facing similar diagnoses. The Big Family Trip is more than just a book for children; it’s a tool to give their children a voice and a space to be open about their body, whether good or bad.
“Self-advocacy gives children agency over their bodies and their future,” Dedmon shared with TODAY.com. “This way down the line, they’ll have the courage to share it with those who need information most – their own families.”
Despite the frequent silencing of voices in the Black community, being vocal about these topics within your home empowers individuals to advocate for themselves out in public. Dedmon chose to prioritize Black families and their stories in her book, addressing the gaps in health literacy and the tendency for the Black community to be overlooked.
“I really wanted to create a resource that features Black characters and reflects our identities as a culture and addresses health topics relevant to our community so we can empower and engage in those health conversations in a confident way,” Dedmon said.
“These conversations start at home,” Carolyn Roberts, Ph.D., medical historian and professor of African American Studies at Yale University, shared.
Holding space isn’t always the easiest, but taking the first step to speaking up about these tough topics can save lives. The resources are out there, you just have to know how to access them. With her book, Dedmon has cracked the code to encouraging open communication about family health history.
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