Medical Racism: A Legacy of Malpractice – w/ Deirdre Cooper Owens

03/17/22 • 40 min

This nation has a long history of exploiting Black Americans in the name of medicine. A practice which began with the Founding Fathers using individual enslaved persons for gruesome experimentation evolved into state-sanctioned injustices such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, among others. Award-winning author, historian Deirdre Cooper Owens details a chronology of medical malpractice and racist misconceptions about health while highlighting lesser-known stories of medical innovations by African Americans.

Be sure to visit the enhanced episode transcript for additional classroom resources for teaching about medical racism during the Jim Crow era.

Like this online exhibition – Déjà Vu, We’ve Been Here Before: Race, Health, and Epidemics. This helpful resource was created by some of Dr. Cooper Owens' students for the Library Company of Philadelphia, where she also serves as Director of the Program in African American History.

And educators! Get a professional development certificate for listening to this episode—issued by Learning for Justice. Listen for the code word, then visit learningforjustice.org/podcastpd.

Be sure to visit the enhanced episode transcript for additional classroom resources for teaching about medical racism during the Jim Crow era.

And educators! Get a professional development certificate for listening to this episode—issued by Learning for Justice. Listen for the code word, then visit learningforjustice.org/podcastpd.

Previous Episode

Music Reconstructed: Jason Moran, Jazz and the Harlem Hellfighters – w/ Charles L. Hughes

This is a special four-part series where historian Charles L. Hughes introduces us to musicians who are exploring the sounds, songs and stories of the Jim Crow era. In this installment, Jazz pianist Jason Moran discusses his acclaimed musical celebration of a man he calls “Big Bang of Jazz,” bandleader, arranger and composer James Reese Europe. During World War I, Europe fought as a Lieutenant with the fabled “Harlem Hellfighters” 369th U.S. Infantry and directed the regiment’s renowned band.

Watch his Kennedy Center performance and discover more about his Jason Moran's meditation on James Reese Europe.

Learn more about Black military service during Jim Crow in episode 409 – Black Soldiers: Global Conflict During Jim Crow with Adriane Lentz-Smith.

And for even more resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode on our website.

Next Episode

Music Reconstructed: Dom Flemons, Black Cowboys and the American West – w/ Charles L. Hughes

From ranches to railroads, learn about the often unrecognized role that African Americans played in the range cattle industry, as Pullman porters and in law enforcement. In part two of this special series, Grammy Award-winner Dom Flemons takes us on a musical exploration of the American West after emancipation. “The American Songster” joins historian Charles L. Hughes to discuss the complexity of his sounds, songs and stories about the Jim Crow era.

Dom Flemons shares even more songs in this 2020 online concert “Black Cowboy Songs and More from the American Songster” from the Library of Congress American Folklife Center. (He has been researching in their archives for over a decade. Your students can use their collections too!)

Read Rolling Stone’s interview with Dom—‘Old Town Road’ and the History of Black Cowboys in America—about the growing interest in mainstream entertainment.

Remember CDs and Vinyl? The physical copies of Black Cowboys from Smithsonian Folkways come with 40 pages of liner notes! They're full of photos and historical information (Want to see? Read to the end this article.)

And for even more helpful classroom resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode.