The truth they don't teach. 🩸
Black bodies built American medicine—but not through choice. Through cruelty. Through experimentation. Through theft.
Enslaved women like Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey were forced into repeated, painful surgeries without anesthesia—so doctors could "practice." No consent. No mercy.
At Holmesburg Prison and beyond, Black inmates were used as guinea pigs—exposed to chemicals, drugs, and infections for profit.
The "Mississippi Appendectomy"—Black women sterilized without consent, sometimes during routine procedures. This happened well into the 1970s.
Segregated hospitals meant separate wards, fewer resources, delayed care, and higher death rates. It wasn't about medicine. It was about racism.
Black graves were robbed. Bodies stolen, sold, and dissected without permission—just to teach medical students.
No respect. No permission. No humanity.
This history isn't just painful. It's the foundation of modern medicine. And it was built on Black suffering.
We owe it to them to know. To remember. To never forget.
