Hidden Gems in Black History: Father Of Gynecology Experimented On Black Women

Marion Sims has gone down in history as the “Father of Modern Gynecology.” Many of his medical achievements came at the cost of the health and well-being of enslaved Black women. He performed surgical experiments on enslaved Black women, often without the use of anesthesia. J. Marion Sims Interest Sparked James Marion Sims, born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, in 1813, joined medicine before physicians had the same rigorous training. After interning with a doctor, completing a three-month course, and studying at Jefferson Medical College for a year, Sims started practicing in Lancaster. After his first two patients died, he moved to Montgomery, Alabama, for a new start. Sims earned the respect of powerful white plantation owners in Montgomery by treating their enslaved laborers. George Washington University medical humanities professor Vanessa Gamble says Sims’s technique was founded in the slave trade. In Montgomery’s trade district, Sims erected an eight-person hospital. Sims had little interest in treating women and no gynecological training, like other 19th-century physicians. Inspecting and treating female organs was deemed disgusting. When he helped a woman with pelvic and back discomfort after falling off a horse, his interest in treating women altered. Sims understood he needed to see...