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Invisible Visits By Tina Sacks Sparknotes

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In Invisible Visits, Tina Sacks highlights the healthcare experiences of a severely underrepresented group in American society and clinical research: middle-class Black women. Brought on by the shared experiences of her and her Black, female friends as they navigated adulthood as Black women, specifically healthcare encounters. Sacks sought to understand why the perception of bias and stereotyping affected the healthcare of Black women who are not poor. As noted by Sacks herself, she distinguishes between Black women as an entire group and middle-class Black women because the limited research that exists focuses on poor, Black populations and Black people are not a monolith. Central questions Sacks aims to address in her book are: how do racial …show more content…

This chapter connects to the overall argument Sacks outlines in the introduction, demonstrating who the Black middle class are and the effect that structural discrimination, racism, and the historical context behind pervasive stereotypes have on their healthcare experiences. A major component of this chapter is the engagement with prevalent concepts and themes surrounding race relations and the experiences of Black Americans face in all dimensions of society. For one, Sacks draws upon significant scholar, sociologist, and activist: W.E. B DuBois and his concept of double consciousness, which refers to the “two-ness” that many Black Americans feel as a member of American society; on the one hand they are black and on the other, they are an American. Thus, the discrimination and structures present in healthcare institutions cause Black Americans to face an identity struggle with how to navigate with these two identities that shouldn’t but oppose each other in society. This connects with the concept of “white space,” coined by sociologist Elijah Anderson, that shapes Sack’s discussion in this chapter. “White space” evolves from the Jim Crow era in the United States, where Black and white Americans were segregated into “separate social and physical worlds” (Sacks, 2019). Connecting this to contemporary society, many Black professionals, such as the Black middle-class women Sacks, focus on, work, play, and live in predominantly white spaces where they are the only or one of few Black people. Sacks extends this argument to healthcare institutions, which she identifies as “white spaces,” that leave these Black women susceptible to discrimination, stereotyping,

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