"Why History Matters: Understanding The U.S. Black Birthing Crisis"
by Deirdre Cooper Owens
Monday, March 6
5:30pm
Gailor Auditorium
In her talk, Deirdre Cooper Owens will explain the linkage between the origins of modern American gynecology and slavery. Engaging with 19th-century ideas about so-called racial differences, Cooper Owens sheds light on the contemporary legacy of medical racism and its effects on Black birthing people in this nation.
Deirdre Cooper Owens is the Linda and Charles Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine and Director of the Humanities in Medicine program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, one of two Black women in the nation who holds these positions. Dr. Cooper Owens also serves as Director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Her first book, Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology won a Darlene Clark Hine Book Award from the Organization of American Historians as the best book written in African American women’s and gender history.
The Anita S. Goodstein Lectureship in Women's History was created in 1998 in recognition of Dr. Goodstein's significant contributions to Sewanee as a professor, colleague, and friend. Learn more about Dr. Goodstein, her legacy, and past Goodstein Lectures.
