Meet your host
Hello, I'm Mrs. Revell
Wife, mother and teacher from the Philadelphia area, and a woman who cares deeply about the health of Black women, from our little girls to our grandmothers.
Dear sister,
Welcome. Pull up a chair. I am so glad you found your way here.
I am a wife, a mother and an educator here in the Philadelphia area. Teaching is in my bones, and so is caring for the women around me. Over the years I have sat with too many sisters, aunties and friends who were carrying everybody else and running on empty themselves. High blood pressure at forty. Hair breaking from stress. Sleep we never seem to get. Pain we were told was "just part of being a woman."
[Mrs. Revell's own story goes here]I built Crowned & Rooted because we deserve one place that speaks to us plainly and kindly, with real information and real sources. A place that remembers that so much of our wisdom, from shea butter to a good pot of greens, traces back to Africa and to the women who carried it here. And a place that is honest when the science says "we don't know yet."
You are not too young to start and you are not too old to change. Take what helps. Leave what doesn't. Share it with the women you love.
With love and respect,
Mrs. Revell
Why this site exists
Because our health stories are different, and we deserve to know them
Black women face higher rates of high blood pressure, fibroids, lupus and aggressive breast cancer, and we are too often not believed when we speak up about pain. At the same time, we come from a long line of healers, midwives, cooks and organizers who kept our communities well with what they had.
This site brings those two truths together: today's best evidence and yesterday's wisdom, written for real life in a real kitchen, on a real budget, with real hair.
Strong does not mean silent. The bravest thing some of us will ever do is say "something is wrong" to a doctor, and keep saying it until somebody listens.
Sources: American Heart Association · NICHD, fibroids · CDC, lupus · American Cancer Society
How to use this site
Find your way around
Start with your age
The Every Age page gives each season of life its own routine, screenings and nutrients.
Look for the tags
Every claim carries an evidence tag (see the legend below), so you know how sure the science is.
Check the source line
At the bottom of each section, small print lists where the facts came from. Click through and read for yourself.
Cook from the Recipes page
Juices, teas, heart-smart soul food, hair and skin DIY, a seven-day meal plan and a grocery list on the Recipes page.
Plan with the Calendar
A health focus for each month, screening reminders and what's fresh at the market on the Calendar.
Find help close to home
Markets, free produce, walking groups and support in our city on the Philly Guide.
Our promise to you
What you can count on here
- Honest evidence. We say "strong," "some," "weak" or "traditional use," and we never claim a food or herb cures anything.
- Sources on every page. We lean on public health agencies, medical societies, universities and museums, and we never invent a number.
- African roots, told truthfully. We trace foods, herbs and beauty ways back to Africa where the record supports it, and we say so when it doesn't (moringa, for example, is native to South Asia).
- Oral tradition respected and labeled. Family and community knowledge matters. We mark it clearly so you know what is documented and what is handed down.
- No selling. No sponsored products, no affiliate links, no supplements for sale. We don't make money from what we recommend.
- Safety first. Herbs and supplements always come with notes about pregnancy, blood pressure medicine, blood thinners, thyroid and diabetes.
Evidence tags
How to read our tags
| Tag | What it means |
|---|---|
| Strong | Backed by good human studies or official guidelines from groups like the CDC, NIH, USPSTF or the American Heart Association. |
| Some | Promising human research, but small, mixed or not yet confirmed. |
| Weak | Lab or animal studies, single small studies, or mostly personal stories. |
| Traditional use | Used for generations in African, Caribbean or Southern communities. Culturally important, not proven by modern studies. |
| Caution | A safety warning: an interaction, a pregnancy concern, or something to avoid. |
On our History page you will also see Documented (archives and official records), Oral tradition (handed down, not confirmed in writing) and Disputed (sources disagree).
Please read
Our health disclaimer
Crowned & Rooted is for education only. It is not medical advice, and it does not replace your doctor, nurse, midwife, pharmacist or therapist.
Nothing on this site is meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Foods, herbs, teas and home recipes can support your health, but they are not medicine and should never replace medicine your doctor prescribed.
Herbs and supplements can interact with medicines, including blood pressure pills, water pills, blood thinners such as warfarin, thyroid medicine such as levothyroxine, diabetes medicine and lithium. Some are not safe if you are pregnant, trying to get pregnant or breastfeeding. If you have kidney disease, ask before eating a lot of high-potassium foods. Always do a patch test before putting a new recipe on your skin or scalp.
Talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting anything new, and bring this page with you if it helps. If something feels wrong in your body, trust yourself and get checked.
Information was checked against the listed sources as of October 2026. Health guidance changes; when in doubt, follow your own clinician's advice.
If you are in crisis, reach out now
You do not have to carry it alone. These lines are free and confidential.
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988, or chat online, 24 hours a day. 988lifeline.org
Emergency
If you or someone else is in immediate danger.
Philadelphia crisis line
DBHIDS, 24/7. Can send a mobile crisis team. dbhids.org
Community Behavioral Health
Philadelphia mental health and addiction services, with or without insurance. cbhphilly.org
Looking for a Black therapist? Try Therapy for Black Girls, BEAM or the Loveland Foundation Therapy Fund. More on our Mind & Sleep page.
Sources: 988 Lifeline · Philadelphia DBHIDS · Healthy Minds Philly
Sources & further reading
Where our information comes from
These are the main organizations and works our research leans on across the whole site. Each page also lists its own specific sources.
Federal health agencies
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
- NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
- NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health (NICHD)
- NIH Environmental Health Sciences (Sister Study)
- NIH Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- NIH Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- National Institute on Aging
- National Cancer Institute
- MedlinePlus
- HHS Office of Minority Health
- U.S. Surgeon General
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Medical societies & research
- American Heart Association · Go Red for Women
- American Cancer Society
- American College of Radiology
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- American Academy of Dermatology
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine
- The Menopause Society
- American Diabetes Association
- National Kidney Foundation
- Lupus Foundation of America
- Alzheimer's Association
- World Cancer Research Fund
- International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO)
- Harvard T.H. Chan School, The Nutrition Source
- Cleveland Clinic · Sleep Foundation
- SWAN Study (women's midlife health)
- PubMed and PubMed Central (peer-reviewed studies)
Black women's health & mental health
- Black Women's Health Imperative
- Philadelphia Black Women's Health Alliance
- GirlTrek
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
- Therapy for Black Girls
- BEAM
- The Loveland Foundation
- NAMI · Mental Health America
- SAMHSA
Philadelphia
History, museums & archives
- National Library of Medicine, "Changing the Face of Medicine"
- Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Smithsonian Magazine · Smithsonian Gardens
- National Park Service (Gullah Geechee)
- Library Company of Philadelphia
- Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
- Penn Holman Biotech Commons · Mütter Museum
- Encyclopedia of Alabama · Britannica · BlackPast
- SNCC Digital Gateway
Books we recommend
- Judith Carney & Richard Nicholas Rosomoff, In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World
- Judith Carney, Black Rice
- Sharla Fett, Working Cures
- Jessica B. Harris, High on the Hog
- Bryant Terry, Afro-Vegan and Vegetable Kingdom
- Onnie Lee Logan with Katherine Clark, Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife's Story
- Margaret Charles Smith with Linda Janet Holmes, Listen to Me Good
- Vanessa Northington Gamble, Making a Place for Ourselves
- Rebecca Lee Crumpler, A Book of Medical Discourses (free online)
If you ever spot something on this site that looks wrong or out of date, tell us. Getting it right matters more to me than looking right.