The Antebellum period in the southern United States featured thoroughly incompetent physicians and doctors. Slave populations, consequently, began to rely on old tribal doctors. “...the slave would probably throw [regular medicine] away and rely on...African lore” (as qtd in Brignac 6). At the time, predominant and treacherous methods of caring for illnesses contained draining blood, blistering, and forcing a patient to vomit in order to cleanse the body of harmful diseases. The physicians of Antebellum South mistakenly accepted that the white and black populations reacted differently to their environment. Several white doctors of the South established that slaves had gained resistance against several illnesses such as malaria or yellow fever
In “Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism: A New Look at an Old Question” James McPherson argues that the North and the South are two very different parts of the country in which have different ideologies, interests, and values. Mcpherson writes this to show the differences between the north and the south. He gives perspectives from other historians to show how the differently the differences were viewed. These differences included the north being more industrialized while the south was more agricultural. He gives evidence to how the differences between the north and south came together as the south produced tobacoo, rice, sugar and cotton, which was then sent to the north to be made into clothing or other fabrics. Mcpherson analyzes the differences
The yellow-fever started in Memphis, Tennessee in a restaurant and soon spread fast across the state and neighboring states. “Yellow fever, which is carried by mosquitos, originally came from West Africa and was brought to the United States on slaves ships” (History, 2009). The impact of the yellow-fever blamed and hated African Americans for spreading it in America. Some politicians that wanted to abolish slavery took this event as something positive for the black. The antislavery followers viewed yellow-fever as the slave owners fault since it was their slave ships that brought the infected to US soil. In the end, this influence both has a good and bad affect for the African American
the country to its monetary struggle. As ensued as tenth successor of the country, John Tyler lacked in securing a more adept union and was incapable of possessing an accomplished presidency. He continually declined to nationally accommodate to Congress’s political positions, by vetoing the establishment of the national bank with branches in various states. This sparked a reprisal among the Whigs who expelled John Tyler from their party, as well as compelled his entire cabinet to resign. This added further perspective as to why it was vital for there to be a relationship between Congress and the President of the United States; as it tends to affects our Nation’s well being.
insights into what the narratives can tell about slavery as well as what they omit,
Shortly after the War of 1812, the nation’s ideals of community began to shift to a more individualized approach, which led to numerous reforms and movements. Individualism allows one to act or think outside of what is culturally or socially accepted. This period of time became known as the antebellum period, where social and moral reforms were popularized through political reform, abolition and women’s suffrage movements. Individualism and reform impulses were interdependent upon each other, without one the other could not be as strong; therefore, the desire for individualism established the basis for numerous reforms and movements during the antebellum period of the United States.
A statement in an unsigned article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gives the prejudicial idea: “‘Virtue in the Negro race is like angels’ visits—few and far between”’ (Brandt 21). Nearly seventy years after Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States, racism and prejudice still flowed through the veins of many Americans and their views corrupted medical research studies with bribery, prejudice, and flagrant disregard for ethics, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis case in 1932. This blatant disrespect for African-American life left only seventy-four men alive of the three hundred and ninety-nine men who participated in the study. These men were chosen as research subjects solely on the color of their skin and that they were a “notoriously syphilis soaked race” (Skloot 50).
However, night doctors were believed to be black folklore, it made such as impact in the black community that, “the night doctors weren’t just getting bodies for the medical profession, they were controlling a population (?).”. They dictated who did what and as time went on less and less people began to believe in the night doctors and only considered it a story. So white owners and black parents used this to their advantage, parents would use the night riders as a punishment. The white owners spread rumors of night riders, “the purpose of spreading the night-doctor rumors had to do with restricting mobility to maintain economic control of former slave labor (?).”. Not only did the night doctor rumor help control the economy, but it maintained control over the slaves in the South. The white owners made sure that slaves would be to scared to run away from plantations. “the night doctors were employed as psychological warfare explicitly to discourage the Great Migration and to maintain a stable agrarian work force in the South (?).”. Night Doctors were extremely feared, folklore who snatched african americans. Who went to graves to dig up bodies to help the medical field and inflict
Life for a slave in the antebellum South and a prisoner in Camp 14 was unbearable. The people in both situations had bad living conditions, food sources, and education. None of these people deserved to be treated like this but yet if they refused the punishments they had horrible consequences. In the South they got beaten with whips, raped, or sold to another slave owner. In Camp 14 they had a torchure building that they took people and torchured with fire and beaten, sometimes killed.
In fact, the very idea of treating a populace as a patient wasn’t conceived until slave masters needed a way to keep their slaves healthy at the most effective cost.
During the Antebellum period, approximately one-hundred reform communities were established (Foner, 443). Reformers believed it was important to impose order on the universe to create the perfect utopian society and even to the extent of controlling the actions of others. The conflicting opinions between the people of the United States caused a domino effect of reform movements during the early to mid-1800’s. The reform communities set out to solve the many detrimental effects of major social problems relating to alcoholism, mental illness, and lack of education.
Initially, physicians at this time were not equipped to handle the serious epidemics that were arising out of the poor health conditions of the time. They argued over the epidemics' origins, the appropri...
More than 600 African-American men in Tuskegee, Alabama were initially selected by doctors and were told that they had “bad blood”– a term to describe ailments such as anemia, fatigue, syphilis, among other diagnoses (Morris 10). About 400 of the men unknowingly had syphilis and about 200 patients did not have the disease, which was used as a control group. The purpose of the experiment was to observe the long-term effects of untreated syphilis. They would be compensated through receiving health insurance, medical exams, meals on days of examination, and rides to and from the clinics. Treatment for the men with syphilis was withheld from them, even when a cure for syphilis using penicillin came out in the mid- 1940s. Many men were also prevented to seek help from other physicians. “As a result, scores of people died a painful death, others become permanently blind or insane, and the children of several were born with congenital syphilis” (Brandt). There is a major racial discrimination component that is seen throughout this study and can be traced back to Eugenics
There were ways doctors desperately tried to treat the victims of yellow fever in Philadelphia in the similar way. For one, they were no ordinary doctors both the best doctors in the city and other places around the world. The best doctors wanted to figure out a cure as fast as a rabbit. Notwithstanding these doctors could be getting sick nevertheless the doctors cared a great deal about the patients they cared for and tried to cure each one. They could've just deserted like many wealthy
During the 19th century large advancements in medicine were made. According to Bert Hansen, “Medicine became recognizably “modern” in the nineteenth century, producing new inventions, new theories, new curative powers, and a rebirth of professionalism”. Advancements in medicine benefitted slave owners more than slaves themselves with “The Transfer of Slave Medical Knowledge” Saying, “The relationship between physicians and their enslaved patients was complicated since the physician’s client was the slaveowner rather than the patient. It could be assumed from this that the doctor’s allegiance was to the slaveowner and, no doubt, it usually was”. This means that any care that slaves would receive would only be given with the authorization of the slave owner. The
Everyone always talks about the early America, how it started the thinking of people today. Throughout this report you will understand more about early America.