Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America

Drawing on archives of the US Sanitary Commission, the recollections of Civil War soldiers and medical workers, and testimonies from Black Americans who endured the wartime medical system, Leslie Schwalm exposes the racist ideas and practices that shaped the Union’s Civil War health care.

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Black Union soldiers and refugees fleeing enslavement during the Civil War faced dire circumstances when they fell ill or were injured. During the war, white Northerners routinely promoted ideas about Black inferiority using the language of science and medicine, and as medical care became institutionalized under agencies like the U.S. Sanitary Commission, white scientists and health workers used their authority and expertise to reinforce racial hierarchy. When Black soldiers and refugees came under that authority, they were routinely subjected to inferior health care and treated as objects of study. This mistreatment continued after death. The human remains of Black soldiers and civilians were dissected, dismembered, exhumed, and displayed by white medical professionals, and too often they were later buried in mass graves or waste pits.

Drawing on archives of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, the recollections of Civil War soldiers and medical workers, and testimonies from Black Americans who endured the wartime medical system, Leslie A. Schwalm exposes the racist ideas and practices that shaped the Union's Civil War health care. Painstakingly researched and accessibly written, this book helps readers understand the persistence of anti-Black racism and health disparities in both civilian and military settings during and after the war.