The Brooklyn Rail

I was filled with joyful anticipation reading The World Before Racism: An Art Story, having been present at two of Lisa’s talks on the topic. The first was during an exciting sister’s trip in 2015 to Bermuda where she spoke at the National Gallery, and later in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum. Both were festive and memorable events, so this reading was like skipping down memory lane, and it had me reflecting on how my sister’s career as an art historian has influenced my work as a doctor and my life as a woman of color.

I was the first child born to Duane and Joan Farrington, an interracial couple who were both native New Yorkers, but who grew up worlds apart because of the impact of racism on their racially segregated lives. Lisa was born about a year and a half later, and despite being close in age, we were to experience the world differently because of my resemblance to Joan, who was Irish American, and Lisa’s brown skin identifying her as African American. Our widely divergent life journeys in art history and Women’s Health turned out, nevertheless, to be mutually enriching.

Unlike Lisa, I am what some call “white presenting.” With fatherly wisdom and a deep understanding of racism, my father carefully nurtured my Black identity by involving me in adult discussions about white supremacy from early childhood. He also encouraged my study of Black history and the writings of James Baldwin, Malcolm X and many others. My Dad helped me understand the ubiquitous atmosphere of racial oppression, white ignorance, and bigotry in our society. Later in life, Lisa’s teachings and writing gave me a mature perspective and long-range view of our collective circumstances, a view which fuels my passion to address racial injustice in the sphere of women’s healthcare services.

I have been learning about art from Lisa since we were preteens painting a mural on the back of a garage. Later she attended New York City’s Art and Design High School and started painting on canvases which graced our home in Jamaica, Queens. That’s when I knew Lisa was destined to do something special. Following my sister’s career and work gave me invaluable exposure to and appreciation for African American art and art history, Haitian Art and Culture (one of her other specialties), and African American Women’s art and artists. Black women artists and activists like Faith Ringgold, who was the subject of Lisa’s dissertation, Art on Fire, were especially inspiring to me. When I traveled with Lisa to Bermuda to hear her present “The World Before Racism” lecture, I was moved by what I learned and by the enthusiastic reception of the audience. After centuries of colonization and indoctrination in the culture of white supremacy, proof of the existence of a world before racism was both enlightening and liberating for those who attended the lecture, as it is now for people of the African diaspora more broadly.

Lisa is the consummate teacher and lecturer, conveying deep meaning and messages clearly, thus fully engaging participants in her talks, because one is not just an attendee at Lisa’s presentations—you are swept up in her capacity for narrative and deep belief in her subject matter. So, it is not just because of sisterly love and pride that I travel to her talks and watch (and rewatch) videos of her presentations. Lisa’s scholarship and lived experience as a Black woman art historian have enriched my life and enhanced my life’s work in women’s health as an Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Birth Justice activist.

In 2014, I learned that pregnancy-related death in the United States had doubled in the previous two decades and that pregnancy-related deaths among Black women were three times that of white mothers. The obstetric experts at the time were puzzled, especially because well-to-do Black mothers were dying at higher rates than white women without high school diplomas—which meant economic status had nothing to do with it. I learned of this perplexing statistic at a meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, members of which had come together to address the United States Maternal Health Crisis. When I shared this statistic with Lisa and asked what she thought was the underlying cause, she replied matter-of-factly, “Well it’s racism, Leslie.” What was obvious to her had been “puzzling” to the mostly white members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The next day when I told the Obstetric experts who were leading the meeting that racism was the cause of the stark inequities affecting the health and births of Black women of all socio-economic levels they looked at me in disbelief. I realized then that I must warn Black mothers-to-be and their supporters about the imperative to make their voices heard and assert their rights to mitigate discrimination and harm in medical and maternity settings. That realization led to the development of the ACTT for Safe Motherhood Initiative which reminds mothers to Ask questions until you understand, Claim your space—physical and mental, Trust your body, and Tell your story.

My vision, as I work to address racial and patriarchal oppression, has been emboldened by the example of Lisa Farrington in all her scholarship and leadership. From her books Art on Fire: The Politics of Race and Sex (1998) to The World Before Racism: An Art Story (2025), I have been blessed to have such a sister with me to shine a light on my own path.