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Medical experimentation on African Americans: a history
Harriet Washington’s book Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to the Present came out earlier this year. We learned about the book from a fascinating review by Alondra Nelson in the Washington Post in January.
The thesis of the book is straightforward, according to Nelson.
Washington enumerates how black Americans have disproportionately borne the burden of the most invasive, inhumane and perilous medical investigations, from the era of slavery to the present day.
The core of the book describes the Tuskegee Experiment, in which 400 black men in Alabama were not treated for syphilis, so researchers could study the effects of the disease. The experiment started in 1932 and continued for 40 years. Yes, that is into the 1970s.
Some less-famous experiments are also discussed in the book:
- Women’s health pioneer J. Marion Sims used non-anesthetized slave women to develop gynecological treatments in the 19th century.
- In the 1950s the Army and CIA exposed African Americans in Florida to mosquitoes carrying yellow fever.
- Black Pennsylvania inmates were the subjects of painful dermatology tests conducted by a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist in the 1950s and 60s.
- A University of Mississippi researcher performed neurosurgery on African American boys in the 1960s and 70s to fix the “brain pathology” that caused their “hyperactive behavior”. Some of the boys were paralyzed by the operations.
Nelson’s comment on this list of horrors is remarkably measured.
Given the history presented in Medical Apartheid, it is no surprise that some African Americans continue to regard the medical system with apprehension, despite more stringent safeguards enacted by the federal government in the 1970s.
We would go farther, and say that after reading the review (not even the whole book!) we’re not going to the doctor ever again.