HSHM Final Study Guide: Key Concepts and Figures

Great Chain of Being

The Great Chain of Being was a hierarchical structure used in early Western thought to categorize all life forms.

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

Blumenbach was an 18th-century German anthropologist considered a founder of racial classification.

Racial science

Racial science refers to a pseudo-scientific field developed in the 18th and 19th centuries that aimed to classify human beings.

Monogenism

Monogenism is the belief that all human beings share a single origin.

Polygenism

Polygenism is the belief that different races have different origins.

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush was a founding father, physician, and monogenist who believed that Blackness was a curable skin disease.

Yellow Fever

Yellow Fever was a deadly mosquito-borne illness that struck Philadelphia in 1793.

Racial immunity

The idea of racial immunity emerged during the 1793 Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia.

Racial susceptibility

Racial susceptibility refers to the pseudoscientific belief that Black people were inherently more prone to certain diseases.

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

Allen and Jones were prominent Black religious leaders in Philadelphia who played key roles during the 1793 Yellow Fever outbreak.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was the forced migration of Africans to the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries.

Amistad case

The Amistad case stemmed from a 1839 slave ship revolt where kidnapped Africans took control of the ship.

Soundness

Soundness was a legal-medical designation for enslaved individuals deemed physically fit for labor.

Hospitals in the 18th and 19th centuries

Hospitals in the 18th and 19th centuries often served elite or teaching purposes rather than community care.

Public institutions

Public institutions providing minimal aid to the poor, elderly, and disabled were part of the early social safety net.

Workhouses

Institutions where the poor worked in exchange for shelter and basic sustenance, enforcing labor discipline.

Asylums

Asylums were originally envisioned as humane places for mental healing but became sites of abuse and overcrowding.

Penal institution

A penal institution for reforming minor criminals and the poor, enforcing moral discipline and tied to racial issues.

Medical facilities for enslaved people

Medical facilities serving enslaved people on plantations or in urban centers prioritized returning laborers to work.

Dehumanizing term

A dehumanizing term used to describe patients—often Black, poor, or incarcerated—used for medical education.

Racialized stereotype

A racialized stereotype suggesting that Black people have stronger, more resilient bodies, used to justify pain.

J. Marion Sims

Often referred to as the 'father of modern gynecology,' Sims developed surgical techniques by experimenting on enslaved women.

Vesicovaginal fistula

A condition causing a hole between the bladder and vagina, often due to traumatic childbirth.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by President Lincoln in 1863, it declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate states.

Sanitary Commission

A private relief agency during the Civil War that promoted sanitary conditions in army camps.

Anthropometric studies

Studies collected by a Union Army surgeon and statistician used to argue about race, intelligence, and ability.

Lung capacity measurement

A device used to measure lung capacity, often manipulated to suggest that Black people had lower respiratory function.

Leonard Medical School

A religious organization that helped establish institutions like Leonard Medical School to train Black physicians post-Civil War.

Flexner Report

An education reformer authored the 1910 Flexner Report, leading to the closure of many Black medical schools.

Black medical schools

A historically Black university that survived the Flexner Report and became a crucial center for Black medical education.

National Medical Association (NMA)

Founded in 1895 as an alternative to the American Medical Association, which excluded Black doctors.

Black OB-GYN and civil rights advocate

A Black OB-GYN and civil rights advocate who led health initiatives through the National Council of Negro Women.

Black physician and public health researcher

A Black physician and public health researcher who documented racial health disparities and promoted preventive care.

Mobile health campaign

A mobile health campaign led by Black women physicians through the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. It provided healthcare.

Initiative founded by Booker T. Washington

Founded by Booker T. Washington in 1915, this initiative promoted hygiene, education, and public health in Black communities.

Eugenics

An English polymath who coined the term 'eugenics' and believed in improving the human race through selective breeding.

American biologist and Eugenics Record Office

American biologist who directed the Eugenics Record Office and promoted sterilization, racial segregation, and immigration.

Key institution in American eugenics

A key institution in the American eugenics movement that collected family histories to identify 'unfit' traits. Its work shaped policies.

Eugenicist influencing sterilization laws

A eugenicist who influenced sterilization laws and testified before Congress to limit 'undesirable' immigration. His work inspired legislation.

Psychologist who popularized IQ testing

A psychologist who popularized IQ testing and coined terms like 'moron' and 'feebleminded.' His work supported institutionalization.

Classifications by eugenic psychologists

Classifications created by eugenic psychologists to categorize levels of 'mental deficiency.' These terms were used to justify eugenics programs.

Buck v. Bell

A young woman institutionalized for 'feeblemindedness' and sterilized against her will. Her case, Buck v. Bell, became the basis for legal precedents.

1927 Supreme Court decision

A 1927 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of sterilizing people deemed unfit to reproduce. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion.

Vague diagnosis for eugenics

A vague diagnosis used to label people as intellectually or morally defective. It became a key justification for eugenics programs.

Family trees in eugenics

Family trees used to trace 'bad' heredity and justify eugenic interventions like marriage restrictions and sterilization.

Movement among Black intellectuals

A movement among some Black intellectuals who used eugenic ideas to promote racial uplift and health within their own communities.

Black physician and anthropologist

A Black physician and anthropologist who challenged racial science by showing that social conditions, not biology, explain health disparities.

Black scientist and activist

Black scientist and activist who engaged in public debates about race and education, including critiques of eugenics.

Debate in Black eugenics

A debate in Black eugenics about whether to focus on uplifting a talented elite (quality) or improving conditions for the masses.

Leading promoter of eugenics in the U.S.

A leading promoter of eugenics in the U.S. that pushed for sterilization, marriage laws, and immigration control based on race.

Research distinction

Research distinction: therapeutic experiments aim to benefit the subject; non-therapeutic do not. Many unethical studies occurred in this context.

Grave robbers in medical dissection

Grave robbers who stole corpses for medical dissection. Black cemeteries were frequent targets, and enslaved men were often involved.

Enslaved resurrectionist at University of Virginia

An enslaved man who worked as a resurrectionist for the University of Virginia, digging up Black bodies for anatomy labs.

Enslaved resurrectionist at Medical College of Georgia

Another enslaved resurrectionist, employed by the Medical College of Georgia to retrieve Black corpses for dissection.

Susceptibility of certain groups in medical research

Refers to the susceptibility of certain groups to harm in medical research due to structural inequalities. Often used to justify unethical practices.

Ethical research principles established after WWII

A set of ethical research principles established after WWII, requiring voluntary consent and protections for human subjects.

U.S. atomic bomb program

The U.S. atomic bomb program.

Black patients in radiation experiments

Some of its human radiation experiments involved Black patients without their knowledge.

Plutonium injection case

A Black man unknowingly injected with plutonium during Manhattan Project research. His story exemplifies the exploitation.

Tuskegee Study

A 40-year study in which Black men with syphilis were observed without treatment to study the disease's progression.

HeLa cells

A Black woman whose cancer cells (HeLa) were taken without her consent in 1951. Her cells revolutionized medicine.

Maryland psychiatric institution

A segregated psychiatric institution in Maryland where Black patients faced overcrowding, neglect, and unethical treatment.

Water-based treatment

A water-based treatment for mental illness, often used coercively. Part of a broader set of harsh and dehumanizing treatments.

Labor extraction in treatment

A practice in which institutionalized patients were put to work as part of treatment. Echoed slavery by extracting labor under coercion.

Separate but equal policy

A post-segregation policy claiming that separate Black institutions would be made 'equal' to white ones. In reality, this rarely occurred.

Psychiatric hospital closure movement

The movement in the late 20th century to close large psychiatric hospitals. It aimed to promote community-based care.

Black hospital in St. Louis

A premier Black hospital in St. Louis that trained thousands of Black physicians and nurses. It was closed amid desegregation.

Hospital for New York's Black population

A hospital serving New York's Black population. It became a key site for Black medical professionals and civil rights activists.

Pioneering Black surgeon

A pioneering Black surgeon and civil rights activist who broke barriers at Harlem Hospital and advocated for racial equality.

Healthcare workers during Freedom Summer

A group of healthcare workers who provided care to civil rights activists and rural Black communities during Freedom Summer.

1964 voter registration campaign

A 1964 campaign to register Black voters in the South. Health activists joined the effort to provide medical services to underserved populations.

Radical Black organization

Radical Black organization known for community survival programs like free clinics and sickle cell testing. They connected with local communities.

Human DNA mapping initiative

A global initiative to map human DNA. It reignited debates about race, genetics, and medicine—especially concerns about equity.

Social category of race

A social rather than biological category based on shared culture, language, or ancestry. Used as an alternative to race in genetics.

Ancestry region

Refers to the region of origin of one's ancestors. Sometimes misused as a proxy for race in genetic research.

Dismantling scientific racism

A series of statements beginning in 1950 that aimed to dismantle scientific racism by affirming the social—not biological—basis of race.

Lead paint study in Baltimore

Site of a controversial lead paint study on poor Black families in Baltimore, where children were exposed to environmental hazards.

Lead-contaminated housing study

A research study that exposed children to lead-contaminated housing under the guise of studying abatement. It raised major ethical concerns.

Lead removal

The removal of lead-based paint and materials. Its uneven implementation reflects environmental racism and neglect of low-income communities.

Environmental justice movement

A movement addressing how environmental harms disproportionately affect communities of color and the poor.

Health disparities

Differences in health outcomes across racial and socioeconomic groups. Rooted in structural inequalities rather than biological factors.

HIV/AIDS impact on Black communities

Initially seen as a disease affecting white gay men, HIV/AIDS soon disproportionately impacted Black communities.

Early AIDS stigma

An early name for AIDS that stigmatized gay men and obscured the broader reach of the epidemic, including its impact on other communities.

First FDA-approved HIV treatment

The first FDA-approved treatment for HIV. Initially expensive and limited, access disparities highlighted racial and economic inequalities.

Radical HIV activist group

A radical activist group demanding access to HIV treatment and research accountability. Though white-led, its advocacy was significant.

BEBASHI organization

Founded in Philadelphia in response to HIV/AIDS, BEBASHI focused on culturally competent education and care in Black communities.

Founder of BEBASHI

Founder of BEBASHI. She was a pioneering figure in Black sexual health education and community-based public health research.