PHILADELPHIA — I thought a lot about the legacy of slavery this past Juneteenth.
It didn’t get in the way of my enjoying the day, which President Joe Biden last year declared a federal holiday, but it hung over everything I did like an ominous cloud.
Since this year’s commemoration fell on a Sunday, last Monday was the actual day off for many federal and local workers, including me. That gave me plenty of time to read and digest a front-page piece written by Inquirer colleague Sarah Gantz about how Black women are four times more likely to die from their pregnancies than white women, and have greater odds of substandard pain management.
