Propagation of Southern Antebellum Medical Ideologies: Practitioners’ Racism & Black Patients’ Mistrust of Medicine in the Modern United States Open Access
Mangalapalli, Henry (Spring 2022)
Published
Abstract
Multiple generations of medical practitioners in the United States abide by logics and attitudes concerning Black patients which hail from antebellum scientific racist thought. These have stood the test of time and remain evident in medical teachings and practice, informing the acceptability of mistreating Black patients within the medical field today. At the same time, due to medical professionals’ scarred record of abusing Black bodies, mistrust of practitioners within the Black community similarly dates back to antebellum times. The phenomena of mistreatment and mistrust parallel one another and renew themselves each generation that antebellum medical logics and downgrading of Black patients’ worth are propagated. This thesis identifies these patterns manifesting throughout the course of U.S. medical history in 1) clinical practitioners’ and researchers’ intentional infliction of pain upon Black patients and research subjects, and 2) a history of deliberate neglect of Black patients’ healthcare needs at the systemic and individual levels. There exists a plethora of literature detailing Black communities’ mistrust in medical practitioners due to either personal experiences or collective trauma, in addition to a large body of literature concerning limits on Black patients’ ability to receive healthcare across U.S. history. However, this thesis notes a lack of literature directly linking the pervasiveness of racism through the course of U.S. medical history to the parallel phenomena of mistrust and collective trauma towards medicine in the Black community. Moreover, there is a lack of scholarly attention to the resurfacing of antebellum medical ideologies into medical training and practice in subsequent generations. This thesis draws upon antebellum medical writings and archival documents, secondary literature on the history of medical practitioners’ intentional mistreatment of Black patients, modern studies concerning health and mistrust within Black communities, and digital media documenting the dual crises of mistreatment and mistrust for this thesis.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Origins of Mistreatment & Mistrust........................................................................1
Chapter 1: Intentional Production of Pain........................................................................14
Chapter 2: Denial of Care........................................................................30
Chapter 3: Where Are We Now?........................................................................47
Chapter 4: Where Do We Go From Here?........................................................................58
Bibliography........................................................................68
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