Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in U.S. Medical Schools

During antebellum America, medical science assumed African Americans to be less than human yet still human enough to be used as experimental subjects, cadavers, and for medical student training. Christopher D. E. Willoughby's book "Masters of Health" reveals that racist ideas were fundamental to medical knowledge, with the founders and early faculty of medical schools pushing white supremacist racial science. Medical students viewed themselves as masters of Black people's bodies through stealing corpses, experimenting on enslaved people, and practicing distinctive therapeutics on Black patients.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 282 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2022
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

Medical science in antebellum America was a complex and paradoxical phenomenon, as it presumed African Americans to be less than human yet still human enough to be used as experimental subjects, cadavers, and for the training of medical students. By examining the racial ideas of both northern and southern medical schools, Christopher D. E. Willoughby reveals that racist ideas were not external to the medical profession but rather fundamental to medical knowledge.

In this history of racial thinking and slavery in American medical schools, the founders and early faculty of these schools emerge as influential proponents of white supremacist racial science. They propagated an understanding of race influenced by the theory of polygenesis, which posited that each race was created separately and as different species. To support this theory, they trained students to collect and measure human skulls from around the world. Medical students, in turn, came to view themselves as masters of Black people's bodies through various practices. These practices included stealing Black people's corpses for experimentation, experimenting on enslaved people, and practicing distinctive therapeutics on Black patients.

Masters of Health: The Rise of Racist Theories in U.S. Medical Schools is a groundbreaking work that documents these practices and sheds new light on the extensive legacies of slavery in modern medicine. It highlights the ways in which medical institutions perpetuated and reinforced racist beliefs and practices, contributing to the ongoing health disparities experienced by African Americans and other marginalized communities. Through its detailed analysis, the book challenges readers to confront the historical and ongoing implications of racism in medicine and work towards a more equitable and inclusive healthcare system.

Weight: 363g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781469672120