For #ThrowbackThursday , a sunny Sunday morning in Atlanta, GA. August 19, 2018. I’m there to meet Charles Johnson IV, the “Cool Dad” of two adorable little Batmen, 4-year-old Charles Spurgeon Johnson V, and 2-year-old Langston. I shouldn’t be taking this picture. Their beautiful wife and mother Kira Johnson should be. But Kira died hours after giving birth to Langston, on April 13, 2016. Johnson has dedicated the rest of his life to advocating for safer pregnancies, deliveries and motherhood for women, because the vibrant, force-of nature mother who drove race cars and earned her pilot’s license and spoke 5 languages didn’t have to die. African-American women are about three times as likely to die of pregnancy-related causes as white women, and more than 60 percent of maternal deaths are preventable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . You can read more about the issue of #MaternalMortality in my National Geographic Magazine story for the Jan. 2019 #GlobalHealth issue. Women Deliver United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) #BlackMamasMatterAlliance #BirthEquity #MamatotoVillage #reproductivehealth #reproductivejustice #birthequity #midwives #midwivessavelives #doulas …see more