Black with breast cancer
2 Min. Read
Anyone can get breast cancer, but as a Black person you may face distinctive challenges throughout your diagnosis. While “Black breast cancer” is not a type of breast cancer clinically speaking, Living Beyond Breast Cancer uses the term to acknowledge and elevate the experiences of Black people living with a breast cancer diagnosis. In this section, find the tools — and real stories — you need to navigate your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
Quick facts
- Black women are 38% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, despite having a lower incidence of disease. (ACS, 2025)
- Black women are less likely than white women to be referred to a genetic counselor or to receive genetic testing for an inherited mutation. Reasons include different doctor recommendations and unequal access to care. (JAMA Oncology, 2021)
- Only 3% of all medical oncologists in the United States are Black. (JCO Oncology Practice, 2021)
Disparities in breast cancer care
Racial health disparities exist in breast cancer care. With the help of trusted experts, we provide content and tools to help you identify implicit and explicit biases in your care, how to advocate for yourself to get the best care possible, and how you can impact positive change to reduce disparities for others.
Our Knowledge is power: The Black breast cancer series was created in 2019 specifically for people who are newly diagnosed with early-stage or with metastatic breast cancer to help address disparities through live, virtual educational and support sessions, and video content with oncologists, social workers, advocates, and researchers. Through various leadership volunteer programs, we train advocates and members of our community to shine a light on health disparities and the paths forward to improve health outcomes for Black people. We also amplify the voices of Black people impacted by breast cancer and those who care about them.
Video: Breaking down barriers: Getting the care you deserve
In this session from Knowledge is power: Understanding Black breast cancer, Lailea Noel, Ph.D, MSW, and Zanetta Lamar, MD discuss strategies that you can use to get the care you deserve as a Black person diagnosed with breast cancer. They share how breast cancer is experienced differently by Black people due to structural racism, access to quality healthcare, comorbidities, and community access to supportive care and clinical trials.
I learned that having someone on my team who looks like me could alter my experience.
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Living Beyond Breast Cancer is a national nonprofit organization that seeks to create a world that understands there is more than one way to have breast cancer. To fulfill its mission of providing trusted information and a community of support to those impacted by the disease, Living Beyond Breast Cancer offers on-demand emotional, practical, and evidence-based content. For over 30 years, the organization has remained committed to creating a culture of acceptance — where sharing the diversity of the lived experience of breast cancer fosters self-advocacy and hope. For more information, learn more about our programs and services.