by Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Black women are willing to sign up for clinical trials for a

greater depth. 

Today, our Best of the Best Honoree for the "Our Women: Our Treasures, Our Jewels," series is called Dr. Tharps, as she practices as a Nurse Psycho-Therapist. She splits her time as a Medical Anthropologist, teaching in the College of Nursing at University of Wisconsin-

Milwaukee, two days a week; and the balance is spent in her private practice as a Cross-Cultural Mental Healthcare Provider. She has practiced that art since 1982.

These dual specialties clearly set her apart from most therapists, as her practice focuses heavily on the individual, within the culture. And, the cultural component is viewed from the perspective of the person functioning within their respective culture, not just as an individual. These unique factors of culture, its influence on individual thought, choices, communication styles and health-outcomes were the puzzle pieces that led Dr. Tharps to pursue her Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology.

Anthropologists study man, scientifically, how he developed, the differences between races and how they are relate to each other. The social and behavioral ways that man works, eats, courts, worships and fits cultural norms are the areas in which the anthropologist analyzes its subjects. So anthropology tries to fit social, economic, cultural, and natural components together to better understand man's physical, archeological, cultural, linguistic and ethnological experiences.

All cultures share ways of mating and marrying, enforcing laws, teaching their children, music, religion and art. And neighbors, of a culture, share common knowledges, regardless of economic strata. For example, most Blacks know what soul foods are, although they may or may not eat them. The same can be said for casseroles within the white community, regardless of ethnicities or geography.

To explain what is meant about functioning within a cultural perspective, Dr. Tharps shared, "Mental health can be a sensitive issue in many cultures. Schizophrenia symptoms, for example, are not recognizable in a few cultures, so if the practitioner does not understand the cultural perspectives, it is impossible to remediate that patient’s illness."

Continuing, she explained. "Among the Hmong, a patient with obvious depression would never come in complaining about being sad, having the blues, being suicidal or being plagued by sleepless nights. But they might describe their pain as something in their liver, or their legs. They would use semantics consistent with their culture. Many had traumas in their home countries, so tangibles such as bridges that were burned down, or fell as they attempted to escape, may be described as the reason for their pain, in body parts. Or they may describe their need for a Shaman because they lost one of their spirits. The Shaman, culturally, repairs the spirit, heals the hurts and pains."

"But, we are talking about a mother with thirteen children, who is obviously suffering from postpartum, stress disorder. It is my job to help her understand what she is feeling, in psychological terms that she must come to understand, without judging her nor making her feel that her pains are not real. I must introduce psychotherapy, antidepressants and/or other holistic approaches to help her," said Dr. Tharps.

"In some cultures, the man is the head of the family and the wife is totally subservient, she states. But our HIPPA Laws conflict totally with the spouse determining a wife’s surgery or signing for her procedures. My role is not to change the wife or the husband’s role in their family but rather to explain the American privacy laws," she shares.

Other examples of cultural differences included the religious perspective of non-use of blood, or blood products, by Jehovah Witnesses, or the dietary specifications associated with the Jewish faith and the Islamic preferences of Halal, as evidenced by many Somalians, Nigerians and Ethiopians.

Our own African American cultural propensities were discussed. "I spent a year studying the young African American single mother and I came away with a better understanding of the dynamics associated with our teen mothers. Clearly, they have other options, either birth control or at worst abortion, but the young mothers are selecting to be mothers."

"Their lifestyles are not haphazard, by any stretch of the imagination, Dr. Tharps expounds. In fact, they can be and often are highly structured. Theirs is a definite hierarchy, where there are rules about relationships and to fully understand them one must be integrated into their world."

We all hear about "My Baby’s Daddy," a phenomenon of single parenthood that presumes irresponsibility. Quite the opposite is the case, according to Dr. Tharps. The Daddy’s are very involved, every Mother respects the other Mothers, and other Daddy’s, if multiple fathers are a part of a single mother’s family. Further, most Father’s claim their children, as do the family members on both sides of the new child’s parentage.

"The woman is not promiscuous if she knows who the father of her child is," responds Dr. Tharps. "The worst thing for any child is to not know who its father is, then the mother is considered promiscuous, in jargon, an ‘H.’ If the Grandparents claim the child, obviously the parents do, and that child is legitimate. It has heritage, family, is loved and belongs!

"We typically make judgments about these families, however, throughout Hollywood and New York City, we see these ‘new families,’ everyday and no one judges. The Eurocentric tendency is directly associated with ability to economically take care of the children not ‘value/morality’ judgments as we often read or hear about in the news," said Dr. Tharps.

Further, this is not a new phenomenon, our honoree reminds. "Whether it is an adjunct of West African traditions, where there are many wives and multiple children and families, or an legacy of slavery, has not been documented but it is what works! Our economic realities exist! Born Black, the limited availability of eligible males, plus those with a source of income, makes the female/male ratio an overwhelming disproportion.

"With those kinds of numbers, parents readily understand that if there are going to be heirs, many females will have to have children ‘outside of marriage.’ Our Black middle-class is not reproducing itself," said Dr. Tharps. "Our middle class children seek careers, better educations, they postpone children. After a while, there are no males available for marriage; those so inclined have married already. Thus, these professional women learn to take care of themselves, create their own havens and many no longer want children at all. So it is the young teens who are keeping the race alive. Their drive for procreation is what is sustaining the race.

"While we do not encourage these premature births, we do understand them and we, as a community must be supportive. We must see the reality and stop judging. Russia, Europe and other countries are giving bonuses to new parents to increase their numbers. Extinction concerns are real issues within those countries.

"This represents a major paradigm shift. We have been critical, even judgmental! We must stop talking about job training for these young families, we need to be talking about education. For with education, we learn to make intelligent choices, we learn how to teach our children, we learn how to identify the best jobs for our talents, not just a job to provide income for our kids," she reflected.

These are the tenets of Dr. Tharps’ remedial role as teacher and as a private medical anthropologist. "I wish there was a Parenting University, a place where young mothers could be educated, within the dormitory confines, along with their children. And, a part of their graduation agreement would be mentoring other young mothers. They are the best teachers for postponing motherhood, they are the best teachers of what being a good mother is all about."

Dr. Tharps described one of her young mothers who came to introduce her baby boy to the staff. He was perfectly dressed, hair slicked down, in a cute outfit, and the young woman shared that she had forgotten him twice, in the backseat of her car, that day. It had been 98 degrees, that day. Had she postponed her return, this beautiful little boy could have been a statistic. "And, that’s not because the girl does not love her son, she does! She simply did not factor in, the heat, leaving the baby unattended, nor prioritizing the child rather than the mother’s activities, for the day," she stated.

The breadth of mother/daddy relationships were expounded on further. Dr. Tharps described the importance of the Grandmother’s relationships with the children. She deliberately retains associations with all of the mothers of her grandchildren and she represents the checks and balance between all mothers and the fathers.

And, if other males are brought into the family through new births, the Grandmother usually remains the fulcrum point that ensures that the interests of all parties are respected. Most of the Grandmothers are younger than 40 years, themselves, and typically, they have had similar experiences as young mothers. So, the rules and structures are real, deeply entrenched and respected.

"We have to understand that our sex-ratios are heavily skewed," said Dr. Tharps. Many of our men are killed, others are in jail and most remaining are unemployed or underemployed. That is a major deficit that cannot be ignored in this dialogue. There are about six women for every man. Look at North Africa, Darfur, the AIDS malaise. In these countries, it is predicted that in the near future, women will reproduce without sperm, as we have seen some animals do. An example has been bees and some lizards. Of course, that kind of reproduction eliminates the Y chromosome and means that males are ultimately extinct."

Thus she continued, "morality is not an issue, rather, we must see our own role as community thought-leaders and stake holders with rights and responsibilities. We must be able to show these young women that their primary interest and responsibility lies with their children, not with the men. "We try to show the young mothers that they must make better reproductive choices. That who the father is a major decision from the standpoint of genes, heritage and ability to support the child," said our medical anthropologist.

Our girls must know that because they are overwhelmed with their own lives, they should not attempt to bail out by becoming a mother nor seeking a male to bail them out. Rather, they are encouraged to put their energy into improving their state, and that of their children. School, night school, exposure to internships which expand employment options were encouraged as operatives for change for young mothers.

"We do not have enough facilities, today, to handle the numbers but if the community takes a different perspective on the issue and begins to seek opportunities to guide: Each one reach one!, we might view our personal roles differently," said Dr. Tharps.

"We must defy the Eurocentric agenda. Many young girls are being hired to incubate babies for the professionals who have passed their biological body clocks. Additionally, on some of the White Supremacy websites, these young girls are vowing to procreate for their supremacy. No, we do not condone mass production of children for the sake of children, but when they are born, we must embrace then, educate them, prepare them to be contributing citizens and producers. We have to get these children into safe places. These mothers should not have to opt for drug houses in an effort to keep their kids."

She said, "We have to be serious about supporting these mothers. They need educations, university educations, they need stipends, and day care for their kids. We have to identify the ‘right taxpayers’ who know that there has to be a paradigm shift. We cannot control young teens deciding to become mothers and fathers. But we must make parenting a responsibility demanding education so that these kids are protected and educated to become productive citizens."

Continuing, she shared. "We did major teen studies in 1988, at Aurora. We found that there were major development delays socially, cognitively, biologically and linguistically. We also found that the mothers were not talking directly to their children. The importance of nurture over nature was definitive. We learned that the brain is very plastic. In fact, studies have shown how brain damage to one side of the brain can be remediated by exercising the opposite side. The brain is very resilient. The same is true for these young mothers."

Dr. Quincy Tharps, professor, nurse practitioner, student of inquiry, researcher and recorder, you continue to investigate and document analysis. You are a proven professional in the science and art of medicine and anthropology. Your studies continue, viewing women, young women as an integral part of the community. You further understand that like the Cro-Magnon man, skills, development, expansion of language, values, mores and communal structures come through exposure and necessity. Your anthropological inquiries continue to lend insight and we await your book, which will further explain your findings.

Dr. Quincy Tharps, born in Egypt, Mississippi, having come to Milwaukee at the tender age of 3-1/2 years, you are a Milwaukeean who makes us all proud. An elementary student at Garfield Avenue School, where Micki Pollard was your first kindergarten teacher and Spencer Davis was your sixth grade teacher, your memories of school continue to remain positive experiences that challenged your mind and motivated you to inquire and grow.

You attended Lincoln Jr. High School, where Frances Jefferson was your Home Economics teacher and you graduated from Lincoln High School with an interest in nursing, You attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, followed by Mt. Sinai Nursing School, graduating from there in 1968. You married, Morrie Tharps, a Navy Career man and helped to raise your younger sisters after your Mother's death, in her early ’50s. You received your Bachelor’s degree from Marquette, in 1976, and your Masters Degrees and Ph.D. from the University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

You did critical care nursing at Mt. Sinai Hospital for years, along with a brief stint at St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Cardiovascular ICU while studying for your BS at Marquette. You, Dr. Tharps, continue your journey to understand and better serve your students as they prepare to serve patients in various hospital and health care facilities, also in your medical practice, that represents typically fifteen patients, each week.

Your role models remain your Mother, whose "voice continues in my head." She often said, "you are limited only by your own beliefs. She remains with me daily." She said, ‘where there is will, there is a way!’ I remember that always and I have shared the same with our children, three professionals, all succeeding in their life-choices."

Your other role model, Dr. Tharps was confided as Marianne Wright Edelmann, of the Children’s Defense Fund. "She understands her craft. She has the courage of conviction, whether it is politically correct or not, she has consistently stood for children. My other role models have been the Three Stooges of black and white film days. The Stooges always made me laugh. Humor has its place; we too often negate it, but if nothing else works, make them laugh. It is always good for the soul. Our children must be taught to laugh, to find humor, even in adversity. Medically, we know the endorphins associated with a good laugh versus the cortisol associated with fear, depression, feelings of entrapment."

Dr. Quincy Tharps, you are a model of study and conviction! You helped to hold your family together after the death of your Mother, prematurely. You have made study a life-style of understanding anthropological commonalties while appreciating cultural differences.

You, Dr. Tharps, fill your days with teaching future healthcare providers and remediating patients through your practice. Your life continues to be one of study, learning and then teaching cultural diversities. You judge not, yet you freely share your findings for the benefit of anthropological data and community strategies.

You Dr. Quincy Tharps are the Best of the Best! You continue to share your bests for the sake of the community. We applaud you and thank you for your paradigms of knowledge that force us all to see many phenomenon in a new way. You truly are the Best of the Bests.