Foreword / Marian Wright Edelman -- HIV / AIDS in adolescent black girls / Yvonne Wesley -- African American adolescent females: physical health and mental health issues / Yvette R. Harris -- The challenges facing sickle-cell disease (SCD) patients during the transitional period from adolescence to adulthood / Cassandra E. Dobson -- The never-ending pelvic inflammatory disease among adolescents / Denise Linton -- African American girls and substance use / Leslie R. Walker and Caryn R. R. Rodgers -- Black girls in poverty / Marianne E. Partee -- Prevention of overweight and obesity among African American girls / Te Cora Ballom -- Me, myself, and I: biracial challenges to mental health / Mary Harley Gresham -- Avoiding teenage pregnancy: too young to parent / Kellie Bryant -- Obesity in black girls: the curse of a poverty diet and fast foods / Portia Johnson and Yvonne Wesley -- Growth development and anticipatory guidance for African American girls / Funmi Aiyegbo-Ohadike -- African American girls' spirituality and resilience / Hope E. Ferguson -- "Oral sex is not sex" / Jamesetta A. Newland -- Barriers to mental health services and African American girls / Ursuline R. Bankhead -- Black adolescent girls in foster care / Betty Boyle-Duke -- Education vs. schooling: black adolescent females fight for an education in the 21st century / Gloria A. Gibson -- Suicidality among gifted African American females attending elite schools: impact of diminished community support / Aquilla Frederick -- Sex trafficking and black girls: breaking the code of silence in schools and in our community / Virginia A. Batchelor and Illana R. Lane -- Critical conversations using poetry to empower adolescent girls of African descent to effectively address their sexual health and well-being / Lindamichelle Baron -- Finding Nem[a]: modeling and mentoring the adolescent African American females' development of self-identity / Sheila Marie Aird -- The mis-education of black girls: learning in a white system / Jessica J. Jones -- Violated and victimized: the juvenile justice system and black girls / Tomasina L. Cook -- The big picture: black girls, adolescents, and crime today / Byron Miller -- Pathways to delinquency and imprisonment / Catherine Fisher Collins -- Raising the age of criminal responsibility in New York: a judge's observation / Juanita Bing Newton -- Aggression and violence in teen girls / Chiquita D. Howard-Bostic -- African American adolescent females in the criminal and juvenile justice systems / E. Jeannette Ogden.