Dissection, media portrayals, and reaction: Black bodies and medical education in nineteenth-century newspapers

IF 2.3 4区 医学 Q1 ANATOMY & MORPHOLOGY
Clinical Anatomy Pub Date : 2024-02-26 DOI:10.1002/ca.24146
Laura Elizabeth Smith
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Abstract

Throughout the nineteenth century, medical schools in both the Northern and Southern regions of the United States required a regular supply of bodies for medical study and experimentation. Physicians and medical students targeted the bodies of African Americans, both freedmen and the enslaved, to meet this demand. Simultaneously, the nation's booming newspaper market became a stage on which debates about the cruelty of slavery and the social consequences of pursuing medical knowledge played out in articles about the dissection of Black bodies. Such stories increased fears about dissection and mistrust towards the medical profession among African American communities, which manifested in riots against physicians, vandalism against medical schools, and corrective responses from African American newspaper editors and journalists. Through an extensive examination of nineteenth-century U.S. newspapers, this article identifies themes evident in the coverage of dissection during this period. Southern newspapers crafted stories of dissection that served the dual purpose of entertaining White readers and humiliating African Americans. This public humiliation fostered what became a popular genre of derogatory and vile humor that reinforced negative and inaccurate racialized stereotypes as well as racist science. Ultimately, such newspaper coverage provoked reactions within Black communities and among antislavery advocates that showcase how people often excluded from practicing medicine themselves viewed issues like medical education. Newspaper rhetoric around these themes amplified tensions between religious and scientific perspectives, reflected differences and similarities between the northern and southern areas of the United States, and fortified racist views in both cultural and scientific contexts.

解剖、媒体描述和反应:十九世纪报纸上的黑人尸体和医学教育。
在整个十九世纪,美国北部和南部地区的医学院都需要定期供应尸体用于医学研究和实验。为了满足这一需求,医生和医科学生将非裔美国人(包括自由人和被奴役者)的尸体作为目标。与此同时,美国蓬勃发展的报业市场成为了一个舞台,关于奴隶制的残酷性和追求医学知识的社会后果的辩论在有关解剖黑人尸体的文章中上演。这些报道增加了非裔美国人社区对解剖的恐惧和对医学专业的不信任,表现为针对医生的骚乱、针对医学院的破坏活动以及非裔美国人报纸编辑和记者的纠正措施。通过对 19 世纪美国报纸的广泛研究,本文确定了这一时期有关解剖报道的明显主题。南方报纸精心制作的解剖故事具有双重目的,既能取悦白人读者,又能羞辱非裔美国人。这种公开羞辱催生了一种流行的贬损和恶俗幽默,强化了负面和不准确的种族刻板印象以及种族主义科学。最终,此类报纸报道在黑人社区和反奴隶制倡导者中激起了反响,展示了经常被排斥在行医之外的人们是如何看待医学教育等问题的。围绕这些主题的报纸言论放大了宗教和科学观点之间的紧张关系,反映了美国北部和南部地区的异同,并强化了文化和科学背景下的种族主义观点。
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来源期刊
Clinical Anatomy
Clinical Anatomy 医学-解剖学与形态学
CiteScore
5.50
自引率
12.50%
发文量
154
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: Clinical Anatomy is the Official Journal of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists and the British Association of Clinical Anatomists. The goal of Clinical Anatomy is to provide a medium for the exchange of current information between anatomists and clinicians. This journal embraces anatomy in all its aspects as applied to medical practice. Furthermore, the journal assists physicians and other health care providers in keeping abreast of new methodologies for patient management and informs educators of new developments in clinical anatomy and teaching techniques. Clinical Anatomy publishes original and review articles of scientific, clinical, and educational interest. Papers covering the application of anatomic principles to the solution of clinical problems and/or the application of clinical observations to expand anatomic knowledge are welcomed.
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