Honoring the enslaved African American foremothers of modern women's health

Meditations on 40 years of Black feminist praxis

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2289227
AutoresRachel Dudley (0000-0003-3550-8587, Women's and Gender Studies, Affiliated Faculty in Africana Studies University of Toledo Toledo Ohio USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen38
Número4
Páginas445-461
Fecha de publicación2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedical Anthropology Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0745-5194 • E-ISSN: 1548-1387
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/maq.12836
PMID38010275
OpenAlexW4389069598
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas32

This article analyzes 40 years of Black feminist scholarship, art, and grassroots activism dedicated to the lives and legacies of the "foremothers of American gynecology." Infamously, in Montgomery, Alabama, between 1845 and 1849, up to 16 enslaved women were exploited at a backyard hospital, some subjected to surgical experimentation by Dr James Marion Sims. He was a famous and world-renowned surgeon who died in 1883, with a reputation as "the father of modern gynecology." Sims achieved the medical knowledge that catapulted him into American and European fame, using skills gained from the exploitation of the enslaved women in his early career. Famously, three of these women are referenced by their first names: Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey. This research asks: how have these important figures been remembered in 20th and 21st-century Black feminist scholarship, art, and grassroots community activism? Further, what are the broader impacts of this pathbreaking truth, reckoning, and reconciliation work

Art history · Grassroots · Political science · Politics · Praxis · Reputation · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Medical History and Innovations