Employment, race and poverty in West Virginia: implications for practicing physicians.

Since West Virginia became a state in 1863 and slavery was abolished, poverty has been a persistent problem for black Americans. Although blacks have become increasingly a part of the total workforce, moving from the lowest level, lowest paid jobs to higher level, better paying ones, unemployment, poverty, and their common sequelae still persist and significantly differentiate black from white Americans. While racial discrimination has been a factor in black poverty for many decades, another critical factor responsible for black poverty today and in the past, is something which both blacks and physicians can help to change--unplanned parenthood.