Why Black People Die Sooner

A compelling exposition for why using race to inform medical decisions is potentially harmful to Black patients. * Science *
This groundbreaking book exposes how racism systematically undermines medical diagnosis and treatment while challenging political policies that perpetuate health inequities rooted in socioeconomic disparities. Its rigorous documentation and compelling analysis make it an essential resource for evolutionary medicine courses and will resonate with anyone seeking to understand the intersection of race, politics, and public health. – Stephen Stearns, Edward P. Bass Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University
Why Black People Die Sooner examines how race and racism remain entrenched in medical thought, policy, technology, and practice, despite a half-century of biological research that refutes a genetic basis of race. Graves explains how evolutionary biology, history, and health science converge to challenge pervasive medical misconceptions and proposes solutions grounded in evolutionary biology and precision medicine. – Paula Ivey Henry, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Why Black People Die Sooner is another tour de force from Joseph L. Graves Jr. He shines a bright light on the persistently devastating inequalities in health among races and offers solutions for society and health care. A brilliant synthesis and a must-read. – Alan H. Goodman, former president of the American Anthropological Association
With characteristic brilliance and force, Graves demolishes the errors of conventional medical thinking premised on widely misconceived beliefs about supposed human races. In their place, he offers a deep reformulation of medicine that draws from the cutting edges of genomics, transcriptomics, and evolutionary biology. Remarkably powerful, profoundly considered, this book unflinchingly presents a medical tragedy of maltreatment yet counterbalances it with an inspiring vision of an alternative future for medicine that would indeed work for everyone. – Michael R. Rose, University of California, Irvine
A unique must-read whodunnit. The author convincingly, skillfully and delightfully weaves together evidence from history, evolution, human genetics, science, medicine and personal experiences. The answer? Not genetics, but injustices beginning on slave ships and continuing today as ever-morphing forms of health disparities, societal inequities and racism. Read and find out! – Joel S. Brown, Moffitt Cancer Center
Joseph Graves, Jr. skillfully combines his expertise on biological and social conceptions of race with historical and contemporary dimensions of modern medicine to illustrate the inevitable links between dehumanization of black bodies and premature death. Outstanding and timely work that explicates the problems and their origins and offers actionable solutions! – Charmaine DM Royal, Duke University

Joseph L. Graves Jr.

Joseph L. Graves Jr. is the MacKenzie Scott Endowed Professor of Biology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. A fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he received the Liberty Science Center’s Genius Award in 2024.

His books include:

• Racism, Not Race: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (Columbia, 2021, with Alan H. Goodman) - Winner of the 2024 W. W. Howells Prize for the best book in biological anthropology.

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