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The Henrietta Lacks Foundation is a classic one that offers some of what you're looking for, if you want to do that.

Book: Medical Apartheid, Harriet A. Washington

Chapters:

CH6: Diagnosis: Freedom- The Civil War, Emancipation, and Fin de Siecle Medical Research

CH7: "A Notoriously Syphilis-Soaked Race"- What Really Happened at Tuskegee?

How are we feeling so far?

Did we learn anything?

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CH6 notes

Progressive! So progressive! I admit Black patients when no one else would! I also call them insane due to their freedom! 🙃 Really goes to show what the bar was, that that was "progressive".

The fact that there was so much lying required in the 1840 census to "prove" that Black people "needed" to be enslaved, because freedom made them insane... It was literally harder to do all of that then just PAY YOUR WORKERS. And, you know, treat them like human beings. This is how much they were willing to do to maintain white supremacy.

The fact that they really thought "well, since they won't be slaves, surely they'll die out in the next 150 years". "If they won't be slaves, just let them die!" THAT'S what southern Black people had to deal with, post emancipation.

Or that people were just, suffering and dying because they didn't want to be socially connected with a "Black disease" like pellagra or sickle cell anemia. Was the racism worth that much?

"Well if you don't trust white hospitals so much, why don't you go make your own?" We did. And as always, y'all destroyed them.

CH7 notes

The average American, particularly Black Americans, can cite the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment when you ask them about medical malpractice and human experimentation on Black bodies.

But what I really like about this chapter is that it really shows the scope of the experiment, and the negligent, malicious intent behind it. These were people that the scientists knew were gonna suffer and may even potentially die. And they were excited for that opportunity, too. They KNEW what they were doing, KNEW that they were lying. KNEW that there was treatment and purposely went out of their way to get the victims to avoid it.

It's interesting to note that the reason the strength of the report of the Advisory Board was lessened in its language on racism and lack of resources was (allegedly) caused by the Black man in charge of it. There's always one that wants to follow the status quo and ruin it for everyone, huh.

And on the flip side of that argument! Eunice Rivers, the Black nurse who worked in the study, being held more accountable for what happened than the white researchers who planned the entire thing- truly, that double standard we were talking about, before!

The lengths and the lies that white doctors and scientists went to, inventing baseless and fake 'diseases' and diagnoses to 'prove' Black people just HAD to be enslaved is genuinely like... I don't have a word strong enough for it.

And that part in chapter 6 where white southerners were afraid that biracial Black people threatened whiteness and rendered it "meaningless," I had to roll my eyes. Because that RIGHT THERE, is not only proof that whiteness is a made-up concept to enforce some twisted, foundless 'supremacy,' but also the ludicrous and delusional mindset they had [and have] where they believe the lie, and yet essentially acknowledge that it is a lie.

Some quotes I'd like to highlight:

"Medicine had once justified slavery on the basis that Blacks were hardier than whites and so were ideally suited to survive and to work in harsh climates that would have meant death to more delicate whites. Now, it was African Americans who were adjudged too delicate to survive. A familiar theme of medical journals and popular magazine articles alike became "Would Blacks survive the new century?"" [Chap. 6]

"If any doubts lingered about the PHS physicians' intention to withhold treatment, O.C. Wenger, the PHS senior officer for its syphilis programs, swept them aside hat year: "As I see it, we have no further interest in these patients until they die." Like Joice Heth, the aged Black women who was displayed, then dissected, for profit by P.T. Barnum, these men were regarded by an impatient PHS as living cadavers, more valuable to American medicine dead than alive." [Chap. 7]

"However, they also deftly defended their work by explaining how the syphilis treatment available in 1933, arsphenamine, would have been worthless and possibly too dangerous to give the men. They added that treating the men now would risk their health. None of these claims was true. Arsphenamine had been the standard of care when the study began and treating the men now would imperil only the study's data." [Chap. 7]

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"The doctor believed that, as with other Blacks with this condition, the psychological pressure of caring for himself when Patterson possessed neither the intelligence nor the judgement to do had proved too great, and Patterson had sunk into madness. Hence Patterson's mania could have only one cause.

"Diagnosis: Freedom," wrote Bryce." [Chap. 6]

Blaming some fake as fuck 'inherent biological defect' for actual mental disorders/illness and physical illness/disabilities when the suffering, the mental and physical issues were largely exacerbated and/or due to the treatment they were forced to endure their entire lives.

"Oh they tried to escape because they're insane," no they were highly, accutely traumatized by inhumane abuse and violation and watching their loved ones endure the same. No human being is meant to live under those conditions. No human being is going to be unaffected by those conditions. Especially not human beings who are already suffering due to physical or mental illness.

"They claimed that Blacks lacked the mature judgement of whites and were unable to resist the allure of liquor, indiscriminate sex, constant dancing, and frequent fighting. Medical case histories described how Blacks almost starved after spending their money on wine and tobacco or fell ill with tuberculosis after buying flashy clothes that were completely unsuitable for cold northern weather." [Chap. 6]

This kind of rhetoric we see today in abundance. It never evolved, actually, in my opinion- not in the way that white supremacy and antiBlack racism evolved [and continues to] to perpetuate in all areas.

Every video I see of Black people in public, enjoying life, happy, laughing, celebrating, dancing, in all kinds of settings, there are crowds in the comments, spewing all sorts of heinous, racist bullshit.

Every time a Black woman is expressing herself through her fashion, her nails, her jewelry, her hair, her makeup, her shoes- every little detail gets snatched up to be used to dehumanize her, her femininity degraded and objectified. [And also I must mention- on tumblr specifically, A Black woman's cute selfie is 10x more likely to get flagged for a 'mature content label' than a gif of some dude's literal dick and balls in full view, as if she, fully dressed, is more sexual than fully exposed genitalia.]

If a Black person treats themself to something nice, regardless of wealth status, whether that be a nice meal at an expensive restaurant or a new car, a vacation to a different country or a cruise, they are treated to all manner of accusations and assumptions- all based in racist stereotypes. As if they are not allowed to be wealthy, to have access to nice, luxurious things, oh but god forbid they aren't- if they are poor, if they need assistance, well we all know how racists of all classes treat poor Black people who need help.

A month or two ago I watched a very sweet video of a mother who'd taken her kids to Texas Roadhouse. The comments were filled with accusations of not tipping, comparing her children to animals, and how they were "ruining Texas Roadhouse."

Just about any video of Black people having fun on a cruise or at a water park, I can guarantee you without any doubt people are talking about how "dirty" the water is, how they're ruining cruises. I saw one literally last week. Racists start foaming at the fucking mouth the second they see Black people safe and happy.

Medical issues, mental health issues, they're waved off as 'faking for drugs,' 'a consequence of poor choices.' It literally never changed, and continues to act as white supremacy's bold-faced trigger-finger.

"He was instantly galvanized by what he saw, because he was familiar with northern health statistics and realized at a glance that the census was riddled with serious numerical errors. Jarvis investigated and found that the census was a "fallacious and self-condemning document," a mixture of accidental and intentional falsehoods." [Chap. 6]

""Like Jarvis, Smith was a statistical expert and member of the American Statistical Association. His clear analysis addressed the flaws in the southern data, revealing that the census's methodology was so deeply flawed that it was tantamount to libel regarding the health and mental status of African Americans." [Chap. 6]

Jarvis and Smith's reactions did make me smile. Both of them were like "hi yeah what the FUCK is this total HORSESHIT."

"When freemen's camps dissolved, no public-health support replaced them. Poverty and desperation trapped southern Blacks into an insidiously indirect new form of slavery- sharecroppping. The exploitative, abusive medical care of slave owners was replaced by no medical care at all for most poor Blacks, and and death ran rampant through Black populations." [Chap. 6]

"Therefore, the census apologists saw preventative and corrective measures such as better housing, health care, and nutrition as futile. This tendency to see environmentally and socially triggered illnesses as inherent defects of Blacks is a troublingly persistent trend in American medical research." [Chap. 6]

This is one of the things about the census and its purpose, and the related rheotric that 'Black people were better off in slavery' that infuriated me and continues to.

Abused and exploited, treated inhumanely, and then once they got their freedom, they were offered no human resources. No help, none. They were stuck between legislation put in place against their very existence, given no access to proper medical care, housing or adequate food, and what they tried to build for themselves, white people would tear apart limb-from-limb.

And out of this intentionally orchestrated environment, their struggle and their pain was taken advantage of, erased or embellished depending on what suited the racist narrative.

"But after 1906, economic downturns and changes in processing corn that removed remaining traces of niacin fueled a more widespread nutritional deficiency among white southerners, as well, and pellagra was now recognized as a public-health emergency." [Chap. 6]

This pissed me off so bad. Oh NOW it's an emergency. But it isn't surprising, we see this kind of behavior today. It's never a real problem, never a national emergency, never a concern until its us who's affected.

"Because they developed the disease, Goldberger was able to demonstrate hat pellagra was not infectious, but a deficiency disease that affected Blacks and whites alike. Goldberger had divorced pellagra from race, but unfortunately , this revelation was resented and ingored. The nutritional, nonracial nature of pellagra became forbidden knowledge, just as the refutation of the 1840 census had been. As a result, this easily preventable disease remained epidemic until 1940." [Chap. 6]

DECADES. For DECADES those racist fucking imbeciles let an epidemic tear through what is likely thousands if not millions of people, just because the cure and it's nature didn't fit their racist lie about it. I genuinely don't even know what to say.

"PHS physician Thomas W. Murrell, M.D., expressed ambivalence about the possibility and even the advisability of eradicating syphilis among Black Americans." [Chap. 7]

His quote directly after this made me want to fucking vomit. It was literally straight up genocidal. What a vile monster I hope he's suffering in the deepest, darkest pit of hell.

"However, this does not explain why they enticed study subjects by disguising the experiment as the treatment program promised by Rosenwald. The PHS doctors knew that being cared for by a physician who professed himself devoted to restoring their health would be a godsend to the sick, forgotten Blacks of Macon County. Accordingly, the PHS announced a day of free health assessments and screening tests that would be performed in Macon County." [Chap. 7]

The entire thing is so revolting and inhumane, but this part just struck me as a horrifically insidious detail about it.

That section was meant to be antebellum (U.S. American Civil War), postbellum, and the turn of the nineteenth century with scientific racism and experimentation as it traveled between the Old and New World (y'all thought I would let Europe slide; NEVER!) A strong, solid introduction to the foundation of what we're dealing with when we discuss antiblackness in medicine. A lack of understanding Black humanity, alongside an overwhelming denial of it.