med hist 509 midterm

Public health

• interventions that focus on populations, rather than individuals

• interventions are focused largely on prevention, rather than cure

Quickening

The point at which a mother could feel infant movement and this moment defined pregnancy

• At the time, it was legal to end pregnancy before this point in pregnancy, but it was considered a crime to end pregnancy after this point (rule around 1850s)

James Marion Sims

The physician at the first women’s hospital in the United States that was founded on a plantation in Alabama and constructed by slaves; female slaves were experimented at Sims Hospital, where he learned/created techniques and procedures that he would later publish and perform for wealthy people

• 19th-century gynecologist who created the surgical techniques that repaired obstetrical fistula by experimenting on a group of Alabama enslave women

Anarcha, Lucy, Betsy

Enslaved women who were experimented on and not mentioned as central to what Sims developed and the field of Gynecology

Partus Sequitur Ventrem

“That which is born, follows the womb.” — the rule that the legal status of a child follows that of the mother; so, if an enslaved woman had a child, that child would also be a slave (1662)

• designed to prevent enslaved children from inheriting the free legal status of their fathers

• Invalidated enslaved women’s claims on their children in legal context

  • They earned money and wanted to purchase themselves and their children

• Facilitated the commodification of enslaved women’s reproductive lives, as childbirth expanded the slave trade, even after it was legally prohibited in the US in 1808

Prime Hands System

• “Prime hand”: an enslaved man or woman whose productivity was near the maximum that could be expected from a single individual in good health

• “Fractional hand: an enslaved man, woman, or child who performed a fraction of the labor expected from a prime hand

Comstock Law (1873)

A mandate that ordered “offensive material” that could be information about birth control, reproductive health, medical manuals, political pamphlets, etc. to be destroyed

• In New York, men were to deposit “obscene books, lottery circulars, etc” to the post office → they were arrested after delivering materials

• Suppressed and criminalized access to information about the human body

• Has be resurrected in modern news & policy

What year was the Comstock Law passed?

1873

Miasma theory

The idea diseases were believed to be caused by noxious vapors, decaying plant or animal matter, or filthy environments (crowded places), especially with poor air quality; the idea that epidemic diseases are a result of an unhealthy environment—relationship between health and the environment

• From the Greek word meaning “vapor” or “fog”

• Theory that disease is caused by noxious air surrounding organic matter

The Brooks

A famously depicted ship that was to travel the Middle Passage, carrying many slaves during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The diagram of the ship included measurements of slaves (men, women and children)

• The image was republished during the English Abolitionist movement by Olaudah Equiano

• Most famous image of the slave trade

• James Trotter observed on this ship, which led to scientific understanding of the importance of oxygen and fresh air for survival

• Based out of Liverpool

Dr. James Lind

Performed experiments on British royal navy ships, where he determined citrus as a remedy for scurvy

• Credited for finding the cure for scurvy, improving sailors’ health

Olaudah Equiano

Wrote the first known autobiography, recounting his experience and survival of the slave trade; British movement abolitionist & wrote about the horrors of the middle passage

• There were very limited sources by enslaved people themselves

• Talks in his autobiography (The Interesting Narrative about the life of *his name) about how much he overworked himself, his illness, recovery, and aspirations

Thomas James Trotter

British surgeon that conducted scurvy experiments on slave ships, examined conditions of slaves on ships and connected the poor conditions with poor health

• Examined conditions on the Brookes slave ship, prevented a scurvy epidemic from jeopardizing profit of selling enslaved Africans

• His testimony supported the abolitionist movement

Lady Montague

A woman who suffered from smallpox but survived and became familiar with variolation when her husband was stationed in Constantinople; she got her son inoculated against smallpox (1st European to be inoculated) and she also wanted her newborn baby girl to be inoculated

• She tried to convince Europeans to inoculate other children (Royals in London wanted inoculation when there was a huge outbreak there)

• Did not have any medical training herself, her actions were very controversial

Onesimus

Man that came to America via the North Atlantic Slave Trade and was gifted to Mather by his congregation—told Mather what he knew about the process of inoculation for smallpox from his experience with things being practiced in Africa; he himself had been inoculated and described the operation to Mather who then tried to spread this practice and even used it on his own children

• Owned by Cotton Mather, a major political figure and minister in Boston who was aware of European medical practices

• Helped saved hundreds of Bostonians from smallpox

Fort Pitt Incident (1763)

When indigenous tribes planned to seize the last military outpost during the 7 year war, but instead the British “agreed” to a treaty and gave blankets from one of their smallpox hospitals as a “gift” to the Indians

• Earliest incidence of biological warfare, planned by British to infect Delaware and Shawnee tribes w/ smallpox

When did the Fort Pitt Incident take place?

1763

Haitian Revolution

Terrible conditions on sugar plantations led to a revolt by slaves, where there were killings, burning fields, raiding, etc.

• There was more sugar produced in Haiti than anywhere else in the world at this time

• French were sent to Haiti to stop the revolt but Napolean’s brother got Yellow Fever

• Took place from 1791-1804, French plantation owners fled Haiti (and brought Yellow Fever with them) when Haiti was declared free from French rule & abolished slavery

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

They were asked by Benjamin Rush (physician that proposed Yellow Fever to spare people of African descent) to care for Yellow Fever victims, but they wanted Rush to set the record straight about racial immunity

• Helped with Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia

• Founded the Free African Society, which supported Black people in Philadelphia

Immunocapital

“Acclimation”—It was known that once you got Yellow Fever, you would not contract it again and people used their “immunity” to benefit them in a variety of ways:

• marriage prospects

• employment

• wealth

• this logic inverted in slavery though—slaves who were “immune” were just worth more to their owners and society (negative)

Anatomy Riots (1788)

Graves were dug up and bodies were taken by medical practitioners and students for anatomy studies in New York City (Columbia) and NY citizens were outraged when they found out about it. African Americans couldn’t vote to push the stop to grave robbing (no laws to regulate)

• Richard Bayley was thought to be the reason for grave-digging (his idea)

• Total destruction of every anatomy in the hospital when the mob entered, mobs refused to disperse & there was major distrust in the new republic

• “dissection is against opportunity to the afterlife”

• one year after the riots, grave-robbing was outlawed but there was continued grave-robbing into the 19th century

• African American memorial burial grounds

Joice Heth

“161-year-old Nursemaid of George Washington” (elderly enslaved woman) put on tour by P.T. Barnum. When she died, Barnum arranged a public autopsy of her, a public spectacle, and physicians determined that her organs were actually of that of a women in ger seventies—Barnum accused her of deceiving him

• took place in 1836

• Barnum made so much money off of her & was a fraud the entire time

Resurrection Men

Janitors, typically enslaved or employed by university medical faculty, to illegally procure cadavers for anatomical dissection (records can be pretty spotty)

• often enslaved

• no known women

• occur @ night to transport, sometimes caught but quite lucrative

• Grandison Harris worked as a “janitor” at Georgia Medical College (1870s), he was taught read/write to ID tombs & death announcements (this was illegal for enslaved individuals)

  • ~400 bodies found in basement later

What year did the Anatomy Riots take place?

1788

Ghost value

Price of the cadaver of enslaved person after death; body for postmortem

Appraisal value

prime hands system: ¼ (before age 8), ½ (elderly), and full hands → accumulation of slave value over time; price assigned to an enslaved person upon appraisal

Market value

Price of slave at auction

Soul value

Non-monetary, essence/set of values outside markets

Freedmen’s Bureau Medical Division

Group that operated many hospitals from 1865-1876 (1876 was the collapse of reconstruction)

• They were controversial because they attempted to reintroduce labor contracts for the first time (share cropping system)

• Kept a register of the sick and wounded

• Trying to figure out who would pay for the care of freepeople

3 Phases of Reconstruction

1. Wartime Reconstruction (1862-1865)

2. Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1866)

3. Congressional Reconstruction (1866-1876)

Wartime Reconstruction

1st phase of reconstruction (1862-1865)—how to bring the south back into the union

• Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1863): slaves deemed free not living in union states help bolster army

• Lincoln’s 10% Plan (Dec. 1863): oath to Union to be readmitted → lower ranking confederates could regain amnesty

• Special Field Order No. 15 (1865): census is an effort to name & count freedpeople of the south & nation (Freedmen’s Bureau)

Presidential Reconstruction

2nd phase of reconstruction (1865-1866)

• President Lincoln is assassinated (April 15, 1865): everything changes & Jackson removes land splitting, gives high-ranking confederates amnesty

• Congress ratifies the 13th amendment — abolished slavery (1865)

• Andrew Johnson becomes president

• Southern states enact Black Codes (1865-1866): the rule that people can’t move without written consent from plantation owners

Congressional Reconstruction

3rd phase of reconstruction (1866-1876)

• Congress (republicans) ratifies the 14th amendment (citizenship, 1866); Lincoln was apart of the “republican” party

• US Army undertakes largest voter registration drive in US history (1867)

• Election of 1868 — 600+ African American men elected to state legislatures

• Congress ratifies 15th amendment (universal male suffrage)

• New hospitals & schools constructed, huge moves for Freedmen’s Bureau

Dr. Alexander Augusta

1882 Exclusion Act

Wing Chu Ging

Joseph Kinyoun

Jew Ho v. Williamson

Germ Theory

Mary Mallon

George Soper

Shoe leather epidemiology

Dr. Sara Josephine Baker

Department of public health doctor that goes in after George Soper and askes her to submit samples for testing, but police have to be brought in to forcibly take her to a hospital

Nellie Bly

Founder of “stunt girl journalism”

• Went undercover in a psychiatric hospital for women and later wrote about the conditions there

Dr. Alice Hamilton

Settlement House movement

• largely elite, white women running these houses that were located in urban areas

• majority of those served were poor, immigrant communities

• The Hull House: first example of this in the US, Chicago

• Henry Street Settlement House: NYC, 1st communal daycare here

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

What year was the Pure Food and Drug Act from?

1906

Poison Squad

Positive eugenics

Promoting the reproduction of individuals with “favorable” traits

Negative eugenics

Discouraging reproduction of individuals with “undesirable” traits

Kallikak family

Buck v. Bell (1927)

What year was the Buck v. Bell decision made?

1927

Chamberlain Kahn Act (1918)

When was the Chamberlin Kahn Act enacted?

1918

Nurse Eunice Rivers Laurie

Eugene Dibble

The African American man who headed the John A Andrew Memorial Hospital at Tuskegee in the 1930s

Nuremberg Code

Pellagra

3M Diet

Parchman Farm

Rankin Farm

Flexnor Report (1910)

What year was the Flexnor Report written?

1910

Dr. Du Bois in Philadelphia

Health Week

AKA Health Project