Byllye Avery facts for kids

Byllye Yvonne Avery (born October 20, 1937) is an American health care activist. A proponent of reproductive justice, Avery has worked to develop healthcare services and education that address black women's mental and physical health stressors. She is best known as the founder of the National Black Women's Health Project, the first national organization to specialize in Black women's reproductive health issues. For her work with the NBWHP, she has received the MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship for Social Contribution and the Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the Advancement of Health Care from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, among other awards.

Family and education

Avery was born in Waynesville, Georgia and grew up on a farm in DeLand, Florida. She is the daughter of L. Alyce M. Ingram, a schoolteacher. Her mother graduated of Bethune-Cookman College. Her father, Quitman Reddick, owned a neighborhood store. He was killed when Avery was 14 years old. The oldest of three children, Avery assumed a lot of responsibility from a young age.

Avery attended college at Talladega College and earned her BA in psychology in 1959. She met her husband, Wesley Avery, while at Talladega College and they married in 1960.

In 1967, Avery received a fellowship to obtain her master's in special education at the University of Florida Gainesville. Upon earning her M.Ed. in 1969, she became a special education teacher. In 1970, only a few months after starting her new position, her husband suffered a fatal heart attack. He was only thirty-three years old and it was discovered after his death that he had very high blood pressure. At the time she was also pregnant with their third child. The death of her husband helped catalyze Avery's commitment to improving health care and health education in the Black community.

Avery met her wife, Ngina Lythcott, in 1989, and the two were married in 2005. Lythcott is a public health practitioner and activist.

Awards and recognition

• 1989: MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship for Social Contribution
• 1989: Essence Award for Community Service
• 1994: Academy of Science Institute of Medicine's Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the Advancement of Health Care
• 1994: Grassroots Realist Award by the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus
• 1995: Dorothy I. Height Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1995: President's Citation of the American Public Health Association
• 1998: Business and Professional Women's New Horizons Award
• 2008: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Impact Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women
• 2010: Audre Lorde Spirit of Fire Award from the Fenway Health Center