in

June will learn about her work.

The Callen display serves as both a celebration of Black achievement in medicine and a reminder that the origins of modernday health disparities are rooted in history and racism. More than 100 years after Callen launched her midwifery career, South Carolina remains one of the deadliest states for Black mothers and babies and continues to battle troubling health inequities.

“We want to constantly cause people to recognize that there isn’t that much distance

“It was peak madness of the African slave trade in North America,” he said, adding that the health of enslaved people at Gadsden’s Wharf “totally deteriorated” during those years.

Once in Charleston, Africans died in such large numbers from disease, exposure to cold, malnutrition, and physical trauma, Butler said, that local lawmakers passed an ordinance in 1805 establishing fines for anyone caught dumping the bodies of Black people into Charleston Harbor.

A line can be drawn between what transpired at Gadsden’s Wharf more than 200 years ago and health outcomes observed among Black Americans today, historians and health care providers say.

Thaddeus Bell, a North Charleston family physician and founder of the nonprofit Closing the Gap in Health Care, attended the museum’s groundbreaking. When he visited Gadsden’s Wharf, he said, he couldn’t help but think of his Black patients, many of whom suffer disproportionately from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Research published in JAMA last month found that Black people in the U.S. experienced 1.63 million excess deaths from 1999 to 2020, representing 80 million years of potential life lost, compared with white Americans. African Americans today have higher infant, maternal, and cancer mortality rates, and overall mortality rates, compared with white Americans, according to KFF.

“You think about all of the health issues that Black people did not get the appropriate care for, all of the racist doctors we had to deal with,” Bell said. He said he wished museum leaders had done more to focus on health

Health disparities have persisted over generations for a variety of reasons, including poverty, racism, and genetics. “In a lot of ways, these are the legacies of slavery,” McQueeney said.

Museum architects designed the building and gardens with this trauma in mind. Small, quiet rooms near the main gallery allow visitors to sit and privately process their grief. A sign in the memorial garden designates the site as a “sacred space” — an acknowledgment that the experience of visiting Gadsden’s Wharf may be difficult, even traumatic, for some people.

“I want people to feel the sorrow, the pain, the burden of the history of the site,” said Walter Hood, a California landscape architect whose studio designed the outdoor space. At the same time, he said, he doesn’t want visitors to consider Gadsden’s Wharf a memorial to the dead.

“It’s almost like Plymouth Rock when you think about it. It’s a place of arrival,” he said. “We are still here.”

KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News or KHN, is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF.

By Collin Kelley

Helen, GA in the North Georgia Mountains is famous for its quaint Alpine village, Oktoberfest, and a destination for Christmas shopping. But White County has plenty of other outdoor adventures including camping, hiking, kayaking, fly fishing, mountain biking, zip-lining, and more.

Helen is about five miles from the Chattahoochee National Forest, where you can hike just under five miles roundtrip to the double-cascade Raven Cliff Falls.

In nearby Cleveland, the multi-use trail system within the 1,000-acre Yonah Preserve is open to the public Thursday through Sunday. Access the trailhead from Albert Reid Road and enjoy some 10 acres of walking space and mountain trail biking. Yonah Mountain is one of the top three rock climbing spots in Georgia, and its climbing and trail hikes are challenging enough that the Army Rangers use them for training. Other unique opportunities to explore on foot include a section of the Appalachian Trail, which intersects GA75 and SR348 and offers parking at both locations.

The two-mile Andrews Cove Trail is an old logging road from Andrews Cove to the Appalachian Trail and Forest Service Road 283 at Indian Grave Gap.

The NFS Andrews Cove Campground offers a scenic trout fishing stream and no-reservation, first come first served sites.

Only enough time for a taste of the wilderness? Take a four-hour immersion, winding through the Chattahoochee National Forest, with some of North Georgia’s most scenic vistas, stream crossings, and swimming at the pool of Helton Creek Falls.

Wanderlust Adventure Tours offers a ride in 4×4 Overland vehicles to the top of Blood Mountain at the historic Neel Gap location of the Appalachian Trail. The stone buildings were a dining/ dance hall and inn completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937, the same year as the Appalachian Trail. The building is now Mountain Crossings, a supplier and provisions shop. Part of the original inn is now run as a historic hiker hostel.

Love water adventures? The Upper Chattahoochee River Water Trail starts at Sautee Creek and the Chattahoochee River in White County and includes Class I - III rapids. Kayaking can be a DIY or guided trip. Wildwood Outfitters takes guests on a Class I to II float down the river to soak in the scenery or a Class III rapids-running adrenaline kick. Overnight camping and other trips can be arranged.

For more details on all the adventures mentioned in this article, visit helenga. org.