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MEDICAL BONDAGE This page intentionally left blank MEDICAL BONDAGE Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology Deirdre Cooper Owens The University of Georgia Press Athens © 2017 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 www .ugapress .org All rights reserved Designed by Kaelin Chappell Broaddus Set in 11/13.5 Fournier MT Pro by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart, Georgia Printed digitally Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Names: Cooper Owens, Deirdre Benia, 1972– author. Title: Medical bondage : race, gender, and the origins of American gynecology / by Deirdre Cooper Owens. Description: Athens : The University of Georgia Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2017013982| isbn 9780820351353 (hardback : alk. paper) | isbn 9780820351346 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Gynecology—United States—History—19th century. | Human experimentation in medicine—United States—History—19th century. | Women slaves—Medical care—United States—History—19th century. | Irish American women—Medical care—United States—History—19th century. Classification: lcc rg67.u6 c66 2017 | ddc 174.2/8—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017013982 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-ND 4.0). To fully understand your rights and responsibilities in using this work, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode. To obtain permission for any commercial use of this work, please contact the University of Georgia Press. Licensing has been made possible through a generous grant from Knowledge Unlatched and its library and institutional partners worldwide. To learn more about Knowledge Unlatched, please visit http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org ISBN 9780820353036 (open access ebook edition) Dedicated to all the women in my family, past and present, whose efforts have been unacknowledged and unappreciated. Your lives and work inspire me. Also, this book is for Mary Cooper and Edward Bryan Cooper Owens— thank you. This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction American Gynecology and Black Lives 1 Chapter One The Birth of American Gynecology 15 Chapter Two Black Women’s Experiences in Slavery and Medicine 42 Chapter Three Contested Relations: Slavery, Sex, and Medicine 73 Chapter Four Irish Immigrant Women and American Gynecology 89 Chapter Five Historical Black Superbodies and the Medical Gaze 108 Afterword 123 Notes 127 Bibliography 143 Index 159 viii Contents Illustrations Figures 1.1. Portrait of John Archer 29 1.2. Portrait of Ephraim McDowell 31 1.3. Portrait of John Peter Mettauer 33 1.4. Engraving of James Marion Sims 35 1.5. James Marion Sims’s first women’s hospital, Montgomery, Alabama (1895) 37 2.1 List of slaves owned by Joseph Glover, 1851 63 2.2. List of slaves owned by Joseph Glover, along with their occupations, 1851 64 2.3. List of slaves sold by Joseph Glover, 1851 65 3.1. Daguerreotype of Drana, a South Carolina slave 88 5.1. Dr. James Marion Sims and nurse repairing a vesico- vaginal fistula patient 113 Tables 2.1. Health and Sale Statuses of Richland and Mount Pleasant Plantation Slaves 60 2.2. Prices of Male and Female Slaves, 1859 and 1860 67 2.3. Comparison of Quantity of Cotton Picked per Week according to Slave’s Gender 69 4.1. Number of Reproductive and Sexually Transmitted Illnesses in Greater New York City 94 ix This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments riting a book about women and men when you cannot hold Wconversations with them, observe their gesticulations, and look into their eyes is difficult. Yet writing books about subjects I am passionate about, interested in learning about, and inspired by is the reward for being a historian. I am overjoyed to produce a book that helps to place another piece of the puzzle on slavery and medicine together. So many people, organizations, and institutions have supported me over the years. I am thankful for their assistance. I am indebted to the staff members at the following libraries for allowing me access to their records: the University Research Library at the University of California, Los Angeles; the South Caro- liniana Library at the University of South Carolina; the University of Alabama Archives; the Reynolds- Finley Historical Library at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the University of Pennsylvania’s University Archives and Records Center; the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Photographic Archives Collection, at Har- vard University; the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health; the Library of Congress; the National Archives; and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), now the American Con- gress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. I spent nearly a month at the South Caroliniana Library, and Brian Cuthrell and Graham Duncan of the Manu- script Division were wonderfully attentive and helpful during my stay there. I owe a huge debt to Debra Scarborough, now retired from ACOG, for her pro- fessionalism, knowledge, support, and friendship. Debra introduced me to key texts on gynecological medicine, believed in my project from its inception, and xi located obscure sources for me. Mary Hyde, the senior director of the ACOG library, and her staff made my summer treks to Washington, D.C., pleasurable. Margaret (Peggy) Balch, of UAB’s Reynolds- Finley, proved a godsend in the latter stages of my process. I was fortunate to receive external funding from a number of institutions, including UCLA’s Department of History, Center for the Study of Women, and Institute of American Cultures and the university’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African- American Studies. ACOG provided me with a generous and pres- tigious fellowship in 2007 that allowed me to gather much of the records I have on early gynecological medicine. Scholars at the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson’s African- American and African Studies Institute selected me as a Postdoctoral fellow for 2008– 9. I still consider my time spent at the institute as one of the most fulfilling professional experiences of my life. The University of Mississippi awarded me summer stipends in 2009 and 2010 that proved invaluable as I researched and wrote this book. The University of Lim- erick provided me a week’s stay, when I was able to present my research to my colleagues in Ireland who helped me locate new sources for my work and pro- vided critical feedback. Further, portions of an earlier draft of Medical Bond- age appeared as “Perfecting the Degraded Body: Slavery, Irish- Immigration, and American Gynaecology,” in Power in History: From Medieval Ireland to the Post- Modern World, edited by Anthony McElligott, Liam Chambers, Ciara Breathnach, and Catherine Lawless (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2011). Last, Queens College, CUNY, granted me a yearlong sabbatical during which I was able to finish this manuscript. I also received a William Stewart Travel Grant from the City University of New York in 2016 that allowed me to travel and present my research internationally. Of course, scholars build their work because others have cleared a way for each successive generation. My mentors at Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Janice Sumler- Edmond and Dr. David F. Dorsey, transformed my life. Each good thing I accomplish as a historian is because of my interactions with and training from these two scholars. I am indebted to my dissertation advisor, Brenda Stevenson, whose expertise on U.S. slavery still impresses me. Ellen DuBois, Joel Braslow, and Caroline Streeter were wonderful dissertation com- mittee members. While I was at UCLA, Jessica Wang, Scot Brown, William Marotti, Ra’anan Boustan, Valerie Matsumoto, Gary Nash, and Marion Olivas, former director of UCLA’s National Center for History in the Schools, were most encouraging. My cohort members and fellow colleagues, Jakobi Williams, Miguel Chavez, Natalie Joy, Joshua Paddison, Jesse Schrier, Melanie Schmidt Arias, Stephanie Amerian, Mehera Gerardo, Sheila Gardette, Ebony Shaw, Lisa Boyd, Milo Alvarez, and Brandi Brimmer were wonderful colleagues. While in xii Acknowledgments Los Angeles, I was involved in the Southern California Alumnae Chapter of Bennett College, my undergraduate alma mater, and the sista- friends I made there sustained me in ways that still move me deeply. Marilyn Mackel, Diana White, and the late Marjorie Penalver loved on me deeply, and I appreciate their friendship. At UVA, Deborah McDowell and Claudrena Harold men- tored me. I still stand in awe of their genius. My community of Woodson fel- lows is still intact, and I am grateful for it. While I worked at the University of Mississippi, I was a member of a welcoming and supportive community in the Department of History. Thank you. My colleagues at Queens College, CUNY, are smart, hardworking, and supportive. The editorial team at the University of Georgia Press has been amazing. Walter Biggins and Thomas Roche, thank you for serving as editors who wanted the best from me for this project. I would also like to thank the Race and Atlantic World Series editors, Richard Newman, Patrick Rael, and Manisha Sinh, for supporting my work. Finally, I give thanks to my village, especially three recent ancestors who continue watch over me: Larry Norbert, Rodney Craig Goodwin, and Nakia Spriggs. Scholars of slavery, gender, and medicine Jim Downs, Sharla Fett, Edward Baptist, Jennifer Morgan, Barbara Krauthamer, Steven Stowe, Celia Naylor, Natasha Lightfoot, Catherine Clinton, Christopher Willoughby, Kel- lie Carter- Jackson, Natalie Leger, Dennis Tyler, Sonya Donaldson, Brandi Hughes, Nicole Ivy, Shennette Garrett- Scott, Cherisse Jones- Branch, and all those who have read and provided feedback on my work. My sista- scholar group members, Sasha Turner, Talitha LeFlouria, Kennetta Hammond- Perry, Lashawn Harris, and Sowandé Mustakeem, have literally been my greatest support system since I entered the profession. Thank you and I love you all dearly.