√PAR@ ` █TEXT ` ═Avery, Byllye1937╨ health care activist Born in 1937 in DeLand, Florida, into the family of a rural schoolteacher, Byllye Avery graduated from Talledega College in Talledega, Alabama, and received an M.A. in special education from the University of Florida in 1969. Early in her work life, she devoted herself to the education of emotionally disturbed children, first as a teacher and then as a consultant to the state of Florida. Her life changed dramatically when her husband died suddenly at age 33, and she was left alone to parent her young son and daughter. This experience was the catalyst for her commitment to improving the health of the African-American community, particularly women who, like herself, had a high level of stress in their lives. The self-help groups for African-American women facing poverty, crime, violence, and racism were the cornerstones of her activism. Not only did these groups serve as models throughout the nation and worldwide, but they would also pave the way for Avery╒s founding of the National Black Women╒s Health Project (NBWHP). In 1974 she cofounded the Gainesville, Florida, Women╒s Health Center, later becoming its president and executive director. Four years later she cofounded Birthplace, an alternative birthing center, also in Gainesville. In 1981 she moved to Atlanta to pioneer a health project focused on African-American women. That year the NBWHP held its first national conference at Spelman College in Atlanta. As executive director of NBWHP, Avery enabled thousands of African-American women to take charge of their health care. She helped the grassroots advocacy organization grow to an international network of more than 2,000 participants in 22 states and 6 foreign countries, producing not only the first Center for Black Women╒s Wellness, but also the first documentary film by African-American women exploring their perspectives on sexuality and reproduction. For her proposals and work with NBWHP, Avery was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989.In the 1990s she wrote and lectured widely on how race, sex and class affect women╒s empowerment in the women╒s health movement. As a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, she developed the NBWHP╒s Walking for Wellness Program. She was an international consultant to women╒s health care groups in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean and served as advisor to the Kellogg Foundation for its International Leadership Program on health issues. ■styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ 0 !I ║ 5¬ ╗ !I ç 5¬ ê !I # 5¬ $ !I √ 5¬ ⁿ !I link `
