Ep. 5: Medicine, Science and Making Race with Leslie Schwalm
Leslie Schwalm and I discuss her book, Medicine, Science and Making Race in Civil War America.
Today on the Reading with Rachelle podcast, I'm joined by Dr. Leslie A. Schwalm, author of the book Medicine, Science and Making Race in Civil War America. We discuss how the North helped anti-Black racism and white people's belief of Black inferiority beyond the Civil War and into today. This was accomplished by white medical and scientific professionals who used the Civil War as a laboratory and used Black enlisted men and those escaping slavery as objects of study to try to prove that African Americans were medically, biologically, and intellectually inferior, all while providing them with substandard health care.
We discuss how, as it states on the back of the book cover:
This mistreatment of Black soldiers and civilians extended after life to include dissection, dismemberment, and disposal of the Black war dead in unmarked or mass graves and medical waste pits. Simultaneously, white medical and scientific investigators enhanced their professional standing by establishing their authority on the science of racial difference and hierarchy.
We also discuss the role that the U.S. Sanitary Commission and the Army Medical Museum play in this—and more.
Listen to our discussion above—or on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
To learn more about Leslie Schwalm, visit her website at: https://leslieschwalm.com/.
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Rachelle Chase continues to make good on a promise to deliver substantive and relevant history that provides context to present-day conditions. It's information provided nowhere else and essential to achieving a better America.