INDEX
African people, 21–22, 116, 129n23
ape relation, 114–15
cultural practices, 45–46
pregnancy or reproductive, 58, 70, 85, 105
Agnew, Dr. D. Hayes, 105–6
American Journal of Medical Sciences (AJMS), 34, 39, 76, 98, 119, 133n54
articles on sexual surgeries, 55
American Medical Association (AMA), 18–19, 20, 41, 102
Code of Ethics, 116
establishment and purpose, 26, 51
criticisms, 31–32
experimental nature of, 42, 51
female conditions and, 115
professionalization of, 26
prominent medical men, 25, 129n36
roots of, 5–6. See also gynecology
medical journals
reproductive medicine
ape-human link, 82, 94, 106, 114–15, 140n68
Apter, Andrew, 45
Archer, Dr. John, 29–30, 46, 53, 116–17, 130n49
Athey, Henry, 43
Athey v. Olive, 43
Atkins, Dr. Charles, 10, 83, 84
autonomy. See agency
Bailey, Dr. R. S., 73–74
Beaumont, William, 48
Bellinger, Dr. John, 55–56
biological difference: of black and white women, 8, 17, 21, 28, 84, 107, 111
polygenism theory of, 87, 137n56
among races, 103, 106–7, 137n5
bio-racism, 100, 129n23. See also scientific racism
Black Codes, 106
blackness, 21, 41, 50, 107, 120
biblical interpretation of, 119, 141n47
concept of, 109
cultural production of, 27
doctors’ views of, 53
mapped on to Irish women, 20, 88, 95
race and biology and, 2, 4, 5–6, 23, 110, 125
black scholars, 124–25
black women: bodies, 6–7, 10, 19, 21, 54, 108–9, 129n23
as “breeders,” 19–20, 38, 50, 84, 118
elderly, 56, 133n56; exceptionalization of, 21
as impervious to pain, 21, 44, 108, 110–12, 114, 118–19, 123–24
medical experiences of, 41, 42–44
metanarratives of, 83–87
methodology of oppressed and, 10–11, 128n19
as “mothers” of gynecology, 25, 71, 107, 124, 126
perceived hypersexuality, 22, 33–34, 49, 56, 75, 80–81, 118
physical strength of, 3, 10, 84, 107, 109
psychological stressors, 114
womanhood, 45–46, 70, 109, 117, 133n56
blood, symbolic use of, 45
“blood mother,” 45–46
Blumenbach, Johann, 110, 115–16, 141n23
bodies: black women’s, 6–7, 10, 19, 21, 54, 108–9, 129n23
control over, 8, 50–51, 87, 93, 120
Irish immigrant women’s, 13, 91, 106, 115–16
materiality of, 1
medical experimentation on, 11, 32, 80, 107, 108–9, 111–12, 114
sexual abuse of, 71–72
white/black women differences, 8, 13, 21, 28, 79, 111. See also medical superbodies
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (BMJS), 55, 104, 133nn54–55
Bozeman, Dr. Nathan, 2–3, 13, 38
Bradley, Martha, 81–82
breast diseases, 79–80, 136n26
Briggs, Laura, 106
Brooks Higginbotham, Evelyn, 83, 137n47
Brunton, Deborah, 24
Buell, William, 89
Burnwell, Dr. George, 101
“cachexia Africana,” 53, 133n50
Camp, Stephanie, 8, 81, 141n30
Campbell, Drs. Henry and Robert, 18–19, 108
carbolic acid gas, 103
Carter, Cato, 118
Cartwright, Samuel, 87, 111, 133n50, 141n47
cesarean sections, 4, 5, 11, 17
childbirth: biblical explanation for, 119
doctor delivery fees, 132n27
pain tolerance and, 10, 21, 110–11, 118–19
physical trauma from, 1, 26, 105–6, 111
privacy and, 68
recuperation spaces, 37–38
rewards for, 81
slave births, 15–16, 39–40, 43–44
use of anesthesia, 24. See also midwifery; pregnancy
Clark, Laura, 141n35
Clark, Rena, 70–71
clitoridectomies, 96, 115, 133n56
Cody, Cheryll Ann, 134n69, 134n71
Connally, James, 89
Conway, Mr. James, 66 Cork Examiner, 90
corporal punishment, 3, 57–58, 86
cotton picking, 68
Crawford, Jane Todd, 30–32
Curran, Andrew, 109
Cuvier, Georges, 109–10
Dain, Bruce, 19
Darrach, Dr. William, 41, 131n77
Dexter, Dr. George T., 98–100
doctors, white: access to black bodies, 7–8, 17, 40–41, 109, 114, 121
appeal to colleagues for help, 79–80, 136n27
attitudes/beliefs of, 8, 10, 13, 78
disdain for black patients, 40–41, 53–54, 131n75
eighteenth-century practices, 5
fear of, 53
medical examinations for slave markets, 4, 79, 136n24
in midwifery, 16–17, 24, 46, 78
racist ideologies, 110–11
rape reported to, 73–74, 75–76
sexual relations with patients, 39–40
treatment of Irish immigrant women, 103–6
view of females, 21, 46, 115. See also medical journals
surgeries, experimental
Donovan, Mary, 103–4
Dosite Postell, William, 52, 78
Douglass, Dr. John, 37
Drana, daguerreotype of, 87, 120
Dunn, Lucy Ann, 82
Ebert, Myrl, 17–18
economic value of slaves, 59, 66–67, 87
decrease in, 47, 56, 62, 84, 137n52
medical examinations and, 4, 79–80, 136n24
education, medical: schools, 20, 24–25
Elliot, Dr. George, 103–4
Emmet, Thomas Addis, 96–97, 116, 138n22
Everett, Louisa, 57–58
Ewell, James, 36
examinations, physical: of enslaved black women, 4, 79–80, 136n24
of Irish immigrant women, 90, 96
exploitation: sexual, 8, 39–40, 57, 73, 81
family planning, 58–59, 70, 71, 81, 82
Fanon, Frantz, 13
Fausto-Sterling, Anne, 109–10
fertility/infertility, 16, 48, 84, 87, 106
nutrition and, 134n71
rates of black/white women, 142n1
treatment, 123–24
Fields, Barbara and Karen, 110
fistulae. See vesico-vaginal fistulae Flexner, Abraham, 78
Fogel, Robert William, 135n14
Frost, Adele, 70
Gaienne v. Freret, 52–53, 133n48
Gaillard, P. C., 58
Gallaher, Dr. Thomas, 116
Garrett, Leah, 118
Gegan, Dr. John, 105
genitalia, female: clitoral-based treatment, 99, 115
doctors’ views of, 46
mutilation, 30, 55–56, 130n49, 133n56
of women of African descent, 8, 19, 111
geographies of containment, 8
Gibson, Dr. Henry, 67–68
Gliddon, George, 104
Glover family plantations, 59, 61–62, 67, 134n71
Graves, Mildred, 80
Gray White, Deborah, 9, 133n61
Green, O. W., 50–51
Gregg, Alan, 100
gynecological diseases: of black women, 11, 20–21, 52–53, 78, 124
of Irish immigrant women, 95–97, 98–100, 103–6
gynecology: emergence/growth of, 11, 17, 23, 84, 90, 107
masculinization of, 16–17, 83, 128n5
pelvimetry, 23
present-day, 123–25
professionalization of, 18–19, 39
“racecraft” and, 110
slavery relationship, 6, 12, 14, 25, 48. See also gynecological diseases
surgeries, experimental
Harding, Sandra, 119–20
Harris, Dr. Raymond, 47
Hartman, Saidiya, 6, 34, 81, 127n5
healing: bodies used for, 107
Catholic Church involvement in, 103
physical labor and, 38
practices of black women, 10, 50–51, 52, 71, 77–78
rate of, 119
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 80
Hemings, Sally, 125
Hervey, Marie, 43
Heustis, Dr. J. W., 119
death association of, 53
Irish immigrant patients at, 4–5, 92, 95–96, 106, 139n66
slave, 1, 2, 7–8, 12, 18, 36–37
House of the Good Shepherd (N.Y.), 93, 138n11
Hughes, John, 90–91
Hughes ads. Banks, 49
Hurston, Zora Neale, 120
incarceration, 93–94
infant mortality, 76, 78, 135n14
inferiority: of black bodies, 7, 11, 19, 28, 41, 109
doctor beliefs of, 21, 46, 53–54, 119, 131n75
plantation owners and, 62
racial, 2, 22–23, 84, 88, 90, 110, 137n57
institution building, 92
iodide of potassium, 47, 132n21
Irish immigrant women: ape resemblance, 106, 114, 140n68
archival records on, 9
compared with enslaved black women, 102–3, 107
gynecological ailments and treatment, 96–97, 98–100
incarceration, 93–94
monikers for, 138n18
poverty, 97
pregnancies and childbirth, 103–7, 121
prostitution, 91, 92–93, 98, 138n11
reproductive medicine and, 4–5
voyages to America, 89–90
Jackson, Dr. J. B. S., 98
Jefferson, Thomas, 22, 25–26, 125
Jenkins Schwartz, Marie, 3, 84, 120
Johnson, Adeline, 67–68
Johnson, James, 31
Johnston, Dr. William Waring, 108–9, 112
Jones, Jacqueline, 9
Kemble, Frances, 85–86, 118–19
Kenny, Kevin, 97
labor: agricultural, 11, 66–67
of black versus white women, 3
cotton pickers, 68
options for Irish immigrant women, 91, 102
of slave patients, 1–2, 3, 38, 96, 109
Lefkowitz Horowitz, Helen, 98
Lightner ads. Martin, 49
Lincrieux, William, 45
Little, Mrs. John, 87
Longfellow, Fanny Wadsworth, 24
Maguire, John Francis, 92
Mailey, Alice, 105–6
marriage, 84–85
masturbation, 99–100
maternal-fetal conflict, 43–44
McCarthy-Keith, Dr. Desiree, 142n1
McCauley, Bernadette, 95
McClain, Jim, 57
McDowell, Dr. Ephraim, 25, 30–32, 34
medical education. See education, medical
articles on black-white unions, 116–17
articles on Irish immigrant women, 90, 98–101, 103–4, 116
articles on sexual surgeries, 55
discussions on enslaved patients, 32–34, 41, 53, 78
doctors’ reasons for publishing, 56
enslaved people’s voices in, 83–84
growth of, 17–19
gynecological case narratives, 28–32, 55–56, 130n49
publications by Dr. Sims, 35, 51, 97, 130n62
racialized attitudes of, 8, 19, 100
rape case narratives, 74
Medical Repository of Original Essays and Intelligence, Relative to Physic, Surgery, Chemistry, and Natural History, 18
medical superbodies: black women as, 77, 107, 109, 117, 120–21, 124, 125
Irish immigrant women as, 115–16
laboring women as, 114
myth of, 44
physical abnormalities and, 79
southern white women as, 116
medicine. See American medicine; gynecology
Meigs, Dr. Charles, 20, 100–101, 115, 128n21
Mettauer, Dr. John Peter, 13, 32–34, 38, 55, 119, 132n27
midwifery: black women in, 54, 59, 62, 68, 70–71
doctor-midwife relations, 78, 80–81
male involvement in, 16–17, 24, 46, 128n5
morality/immorality, 77, 92, 98, 99, 100–101
Morgan, Jennifer, 114
Morrison, Toni, 109
protection of children, 86
West African beliefs, 45–46, 70
“mulattos”: children, 40, 77, 116–17, 125
women, 104
murder, 43, 50, 76, 86, 132n35
natural historians, 19
Newsome, Robert, 43
Niles, Hezekiah, 97–98
nurses, slave: Dr. Sims’s, 2, 12, 14, 38, 108, 112, 114
plantation slaves as, 25, 50, 59, 61–62, 67
roots medicine practice, 50–51
vulnerability of, 54
obstetrical fistulae. See vesico-vaginal fistulae
Olive, Littleton, 43
surgical cases, 30–31
Painter, Nell Irvin, 132n35, 141n23
patient rights, 116
Pendelton, Dr. E. M., 50
Peterson, Carla, 1
plantation slaves, 16
population growth and births, 59, 134n69, 134n71
Polite, Sam, 68
Potts Dewees, Dr. William, 106–7
pregnancy: autonomy and, 70
delivery case narratives, 26–28, 68, 101, 103–4
douche treatment, 103–4
holistic practices, 51
physical labor and, 11, 45, 67–68
race and, 125
surgeries, 29–30, 47, 83–84. See also childbirth
fertility/infertility
Prevost, François-Marie, 26
prostitution: birthrates and, 98
reasons for turning to, 91
sexually transmitted infections, 92–94
prussiate of iron, 27, 28, 129nn45–46
Punch, 91
race: biology and, 2, 4, 21–23, 28, 125
burden of, 13
enslaved doctoring women and, 80–81
historians of, 4
narratives in medical journals, 11, 83–84, 106
racial categories, 2, 19, 101, 107, 109–10
racial difference: gynecological practices and, 23–24, 28, 100–101
in medical publications, 18, 22
polygenism theory of, 87, 137n56
of various groups of women, 115–16
racial science. See scientific racism
racism: anti-African, 22
anti-Irish, 13, 90, 91, 94–95, 98, 140n68
human-ape comparison and, 114–15
transformation of, 110. See also scientific racism
rape: legal protection, 77
medical treatment for, 73–75
occurrences on ships, 91
scholarship on, 75
Redfield, James W., 114
Redpath, James, 23
reproductive labor, 4, 11, 16, 50, 114
breast feeding and, 44
value of, 41
reproductive medicine: black women and, 4, 12, 39–41, 43, 48, 125
early male involvement, 16–17, 129n36
economic growth and, 66
Irish immigrant women and, 4–5
oppression and, 14
preservation of diseased parts, 47, 100–101
racial and gender prejudice of, 23–24
slave births and, 15–16, 44, 66
slave community and, 70
white women and, 7, 50, 91, 125
resistance, acts of, 81–82, 85, 87, 127n5
Richardson, Jean, 93
Rollins, Parthena, 86
Rosenberg, Charles, 41, 95, 100, 115
Rush, Benjamin, 5–6
Saint Joseph’s Hospital (Philadelphia), 106, 139n66
saltpeter, 74
Sanger, William, 93–94, 138n13
sanity, 50
Schiebinger, Londa, 21, 115–16
Schroeder, Lars, 11
science-medicine integration, 19, 100
scientific racism, 106, 137n56
American school of ethnology and, 87, 137n57
black inferiority and, 2, 21–22, 41
blackness and, 5–6
conundrum of, 119–20
of early European scientists, 109–10, 141n23
experimental surgeries and, 51, 111
failure of, 23
in medical journals, 19
pain tolerance and, 112
Sewell, Alice, 16
sexually transmitted diseases, 4, 48–49, 57
cases in Greater New York City, 93
gonorrhea and syphilis, 74, 93
prostitution and, 92–94
sexual relations: abusive, 57–58, 72, 89–90, 91, 103
inter-racial, 116–17
marriage and, 84–85
of slave and slave owner, 16, 39–40, 74, 81, 125
of teenage girls, 117–18. See also prostitution
rape
sick houses. See hospitals
Sims, Dr. James Marion: background and reputation, 1, 6, 34–35, 40–41
dismissal from New York Woman’s Hospital, 96–97, 138n23
experimental gynecological work, 24, 26, 35–36, 38, 51, 80
fertility treatment, 124
fistula surgeries, 36, 38–39, 55, 97, 111–12
founding of hospitals, 1, 2, 36, 39, 95, 138n16
slave nurses/patients of, 1–3, 11–12, 14, 38, 108–9, 114
treatment of Irish immigrant women, 5, 95–97, 116
slave markets: brutality of, 86
medical examinations for, 4, 79, 136n24
warranty cases, 48–50
slave owners: cruelty and punishment, 43, 44, 57–58, 86–87, 132n35
introduction of sick houses, 37–38
medical methods practiced by, 42
purchases/sales of slaves, 48–50, 62, 66
sexual relations with slaves, 16, 39–40, 74–76, 81, 125
slave births and, 16, 43, 45, 59, 66, 81, 118
slave management journals, 8, 10, 17, 66, 110
slavery: biomedical ethics and, 40, 47–48
commodification of, 87
medicine relationship, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 28
miasmas of, 109
racial domination during, 127n5
rise of gynecology and, 5, 6, 11–12, 14, 25, 44, 111–12
U.S. history/historians of, 9–10, 14, 127n13
smallpox vaccination, 25–26
Smalls, Robert, 75
Smith, Mary, 5, 95–97, 116, 138n22
Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll, 115
social welfare, 91, 97 “soul murder,” 50, 132n35
Southern Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy, 55–56, 78
Southern Medical and Surgical Journal, 18
Spann, James, 56
Spillers, Hortense, 19, 125–26
State of Missouri v. Celia, a slave, 43
Steckel, Richard H., 136n14
stereotypes, 75, 84, 120, 140n68
Stinson ads. Piper, 50
surgeries, experimental: cesarean sections, 26, 55
choice to participate in, 47, 52, 108–9
on enslaved bodies, 20, 28, 32, 35–36, 136n22
on Irish immigrant women, 5, 96–97
ovariotomies, 30–31, 46–47, 104
on pregnant women, 29–30, 47, 83–84
rules and ethical codes, 47–48
vaginal operations, 55–56, 96, 97
vesico-vaginal fistulae, 33–34, 36, 38–39, 55, 97, 106, 111–12
survival strategies, 56
Taylor, Ula, 10
Thomas, Dr. T. Gaillard, 102, 104
Tidyman, Dr. P., 47–48
unani medicine, 24
Underwood v. Lacapère, 137n52
urethritis, 74
uterine disease, 52–53, 78, 107
vaginal examinations, 36, 55–56
venereal diseases. See sexually transmitted diseases
vesico-vaginal fistulae: description and cause of, 1, 26, 106
surgeries, 33–34, 36, 38–39, 55, 97, 106, 111–12
Wallace, Michele, 127n6
Waring, Joseph, 25
Warner, Lucien, 107
white women: black women as inferior to, 7, 84, 87
doctors privileging, 24, 27–28, 79, 100–101
female slaves and, 74, 85–86, 135n5
labor of, 3
nervousness condition of, 115
protection of, 91
Whitley, Ophelia, 118
Wilson, Lulu, 141n35 “womanism,” 71, 135n91
Woman’s Hospital of the State of New York, 2, 95–97
women’s health care, 16–17, 24, 78
dual approach to, 84
Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviews, 42, 51, 57, 66, 131n1, 141n35
Wragg, Dr. John A., 78
Wright, Dr. Thomas, 27–28, 129n42, 129n45
Yellerday, Hilliard, 117
Zealy, J. T., 87