7: To Do No Harm?

This episode was originally released in 2015.In Episode 7 of the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie explore how science and medicine interacted with slavery in antebellum America. They discuss how doctors such as J. Marion Sims used human experimentation on enslaved subjects to help advance the practice of medicine. And they explore how scientific racism, as practiced by doctors such as Samuel Cartwright, was used to justify slaveholder ideology. Jamelle and Rebecca begin their discussion by looking at the life of Anarcha (1828?-unknown), an enslaved women who endured more than 34 experimental surgeries that culminated in a path-breaking medical discovery.See this episode's complete show notes.This series was made possible by Slate Plus members. To support more work like this at Slate, sign up for Slate Plus now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.