Review by Choice Review
Covering the period between the late antebellum era and the first decade of the 20th century, Long (Williams College) portrays medical care of African Americans as a part of racial politics. As she discusses, Todd Savitt (Medicine and Slavery, CH, Apr'79) and Sharla Fett (Working Cures, CH, Nov'02, 40-1578) have respectively written on medicine and slavery. Long's book, however, is less about illness or black hospitals than about the intersection of medicine with African American culture and politics. In the book's first half, Long pays close attention to how African Americans discussed medical conditions with army officials during the Civil War. In the second half, her focus is more on organized movements. Blacks were engaged in associations that helped their members pay for medical costs and that participated in charity events. These examples, the author argues, are evidence of African American medical practitioners and patients wanting to be independent from white counterparts. For African Americans, such autonomy represented reclamation of their own bodies, which slaveholders and physicians had previously frequently controlled. In very accessible language, Long unearths black voices through rich primary sources, including WPA documents, private letters, and photographs. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries. Y. Kiuchi Michigan State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
