Coy James Memorial Lecture: “Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in U.S. Medical Schools

Join us for a presentation of “Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in U.S. Medical Schools.” Presented by Dr. Christopher D. E. Willoughby, this talk discusses how medical science in antebellum America was organized around a paradox: it presumed African Americans to be less than human yet still human enough to be viable as experimental subjects, as cadavers, and for use in the training of medical students. By taking a hard look at the racial ideas of both northern and southern medical schools, Dr. Willoughby reveals that racist ideas were not external to the medical profession but fundamental to medical knowledge.

Albion College Departmental sponsors: History; Wilson Medical Institute; Anthropology and Sociology; and English.