Slavery and Medicine

Enslavement and Medical Practices in Antebellum Louisiana

Katherine Bankole

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317713531
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

This study re-evaluates the field known as Negro/Slave Medicine, which has traditionally focused on the efforts of slaveowners to provide medical care for their slaves, addressing the slaves' proactive management of medical care; brutality as a cause of the constant need for medical attention; and the health risks posed by arduous agricultural labor. This groundbreaking study offers insight into the health problems facing enslaved people, their attempts to deal with the causes and effects of illness and injury, and the slave owners' attitudes toward the medical treatment of slaves. The appendices present valuable data on the medical treatment of enslaved African Americans from the Touro Infirmary Archives that have never before been published.

Part One
Overview of Enslavement and Medicine

The enslavement of Africans and medical care in the southeastern parishes of Louisiana was influenced by four main factors: the extent of medical care provided to Africans, the impact of brutality and punishment, the protection of property and legislation, and the influence of labor upon medical health. Enslavement and medicine scholars have not reviewed the data with attention to the extent of medical care, brutality/punishment, property status and labor. Moreover, the work on the extent of medical care provided to enslaved Africans often supports the "good master" thesis—which seeks to provide a positive value judgement on the intent and actions of slaveowners in providing care. The extent of medical care is often discussed in the absence of the inherent brutality of the system; and to suggest that the existence of enslaved Africans was not as challenging as the slave narratives and oral histories suggest.

Chapter 1
The History and Scholarship of Enslavement and Medicine

Slavery was the worst days that was ever seed in the world. They was things past tellin', but I got the scars on my old body to show to this day. I seed worse than what happened to me. I seed them put the men and women in the stock with they hands screwed down through holes in the board and they feets tied together and they naked behinds to the world. Solomon the overseer beat them with a big whip and Massa look on. The niggers better not stop in the fields when they hear them yellin'. They cut the flesh 'most to the bones, and some they was, when they taken them out of stock and put them on the beds, they never got up again. . .I sets and 'members the times in the world. I 'members now clear as yesterday things I forgot for a long time. I 'members 'bout the days of slavery and I don't 'lieve they ever gwine have slaves no more on this earth.

Mary Reynolds [from James Mellon's Bullwhip Days]

By the time the French settlement La Nouvelle Orleans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718 there were approximately 172 enslaved Africans. The city itself underwent monumental changes as the Louisiana Territory changed rulers. First, as a French colony in the "new world"; then as a holding of the Spanish from 1763; and then briefly back to French rule in 1802 until finally sold to the United States in 1803. Not long after the first Africans were brought to Louisiana, the territory's Black Code, known as Le Code Noir under the French, was brought from the French colonial holdings of the West Indies and officially outlined the rights of slaveowners and the restrictions upon African people. With each subsequent change of leadership in Louisiana the Black Code followed. In fact, each new regime in Louisiana made their own modifications to the preexistent Black Code (Wall 1990, 96).

The history of enslavement in southeastern Louisiana, and especially New Orleans is considered complex, and at times, very different from the other southern cities. Most of the various interpretations of New Orleans enslavement include the intense French, Spanish and American occupation, the phenomena of les gens de la couleur Libre (free people of color some-times known as "creoles de couleur") living in close proximity to enslaved Africans; and the existence of a Black Code which applied to both enslaved Africans and the gens de couleur libre. These phenomena have caused some scholars and historians to suggest that the enslavement of Africans under French and/or Spanish domination was less harsh than under the Americans. But the gens de couleur libre enjoyed many privileges as well as many outrages to their own dignity—all tied to their quasi-free status (Ingersoll 1991,173-200). Yet it was the enslaved African who cleared the land, performed the intensive agriculture and built the infrastructures of the city of New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana.

The unique character of southeastern Louisiana history also extend to the interpretation of the medical health care status of enslaved Africans. The various schools of thought offer analysis along a broad spectrum. There is the theory that most slaves were well cared for, especially with reference to disease and illness. The research in this arena attempts to demonstrate that, despite the inherent cruelty of the system, slaveowners possessed a sense of compassion and humanity toward enslaved Africans. Other scholars posit that slave care was a simple issue of efficient management and that medical/health care was only a priority when the health of chattel property threatened the slaveowners' investment or future earnings. In addition, there persists in southern folklore, the notion that enslaved Africans learned any medical knowledge and/or healing skills they possessed from the White slaveowners or Native American peoples.

Enslavement and medicine is a central research area for understanding the extent of illness, physical trauma and how enslaved Africans and slaveowners responded to medical/health care conditions. There is significant contention regarding the extent of medical care provided by slaveowners. There are also various interpretations of the role of enslaved Africans in providing medical care. For the purposes of this study the term "medicine" refers to any activity which engages diagnoses, treatment, or the prevention of disease, injury and other damage to the physical body or mind. This includes surgical and non-surgical treatment such as drugs, herbs, diet and other activities intended to control the physical body and to effect a cure. This research does not attempt to argue the effectiveness of the medical cures and remedies used by Africans or European Americans.

In this study the term enslavement will be used. The term enslavement "Refers to an individual who has been made a slave or reduced to servitude. . .Enslavement includes physical subjugation; (and) the exploitation of labor (means of production)" (Bankole 1995, 76). The term is a response to the neutrality and ambiguity implicit in the word "slavery" as noted by C. Tsehloane Keto (Keto 1989, 26). The term enslavement is also a response to the contemporary intellectual phenomena of equating the word "slave" with only one group of people, "Africans." The term enslavement more accurately describes a class of people (Africans) subject to forced migration, bondage and involuntary labor (Slavery). As Asante notes, part of the issue with enslavement historiography is the "mental orientation" of traditional scholars who must ultimately learn to "view the people not as 'slaves' but as 'Africans'" (Asante 1993, 21). In Africology the term also refers to the mental and psychological abuse fundamental to the European trade in enslaved Africans and the Holocaust of Enslavement in general (Karenga 1993, 115-116). This study also refers to the subjects at hand, "enslaved Africans in southeastern Louisiana" as Africans, or people of African descent. In the antebellum literature Africans were often referred to as "negroes" or "niggers"; occasionally as "Ethiopes," or "blacks," and sometimes the African ethnic group was identified (Congo, Bambara, etc.). Yet collectively, especially when referring to ship's cargoes, they were referred to as Africans ("Salt Water," "Raw," or "Fresh" Africans). The masses of enslaved people were of African descent. Many of those Africans who possessed significant European admixture (designated as mulatto, quadroon, octoroon or "white niggers") were also enslaved; not because of their European (White) blood, or physical features, but ultimately because of their Africanity.

The existing scholarship examines enslavement and medicine in terms of how the slaveowner was affected by the development of the field of medicine and the health management of enslaved Africans. There are no in-depth attempts to view the African as the subject of the examination. The concerns of enslavement and medicine scholars includes such issues as: "slave diseases," "slave health," "African physiology," "surgical cases," "medical management of slaves," "racial theories," "medical experimentation," "medical costs," "slave mortality," and the "diet/nutrition" of enslaved Africans. In addition, scholars are also interested in fertility patterns, the impact of contagions and epidemics on the African population; and the belief that some slaveowners held that Africans were prone to feigning illness.

The three main areas of enslavement and medicine in the antebellum period are: theory, management and experimentation. First, enslavement and medicine theories center upon the attempt at classifying African people as a race or species and the study of African physiology. Southern leaders in the study of race and the physiology of African people in the South, included antebellum physician Samuel A. Cartwright and journalist J.D.B. De Bow. These authors, and many others, believed in the idea of innate African biological inferiority and the physical and intellectual superiority of the White race.

Second, an abundance of scholarship focuses on the management of enslaved Africans and medical care. This medical management dealt with general health, disease, diet/nutrition, clothing, mortality and the medical costs incurred by slaveowners. Of the three main areas regarding enslavement and medicine, the medical management of enslaved Africans was extremely essential to the successful running of a farm or plantation. Slaveowners recognized the importance of maintaining optimal medical care of Africans because it was linked to their labor and profit potential. Antebellum society supported the needs of slaveowners by offering medical care, hospitalization and cures at a reduced cost to slaveowners. The management of enslaved Africans also included the development and dissemination of medical and scientific journals, almanacs, pamphlets and treatise.

Finally, the historical record also documents the experimental side of enslavement and medicine, including: surgical cases, experimental treatments and procedures. These studies provide the perspective of the medical doctors, expressly how they developed their practices and careers relying heavily on enslaved Africans as their subjects. The research represents the continued view of Africans as marginal beings in the White antebellum world. Africans did indeed serve as "guinea pigs" in the development of surgical procedures; often subject to painful operations performed against their free will.

Surgery and experimental treatments/procedures were performed without the consent of the African. It was only necessary that the slaveowner gave consent. Surgery and experiments were risks to the slave property, but provided some cost benefit to the slaveowner. If a slaveowner consented to surgery/experiments, it was usually with an agreement that the attending physician pay for the African's food, lodging, clothing, medicine—everything associated with the procedure. This freed the slaveowners resources somewhat, and still allowed him to retain tide to the slave property. The scholarship fails to acknowledge the African contribution to the development of medicine in the antebellum United States. The use of enslaved Africans in medical experiments advanced some medical careers and took many White physicians in new directions. This was during a time when the culture of White society shunned the idea of, and often refused to submit to, experimental medical treatments and surgical procedures.

In the general interpretation of these three main areas, the enslaved African is an object in relationship to his own medical experience. In each area the enslaved African is actually the central figure of the issue, yet the African's position is altered and their significance is diminished within their own history. Therefore, antebellum and contemporary studies of enslavement and medicine focus on the thoughts, feelings, ideas and experiences of the slaveowning class. The African is a victim of the slaveowner's history and experiences, especially when it comes to medical care issues. Notwithstanding this phenomena few historians acknowledge the gross victimization of the African and rarely analyze the European's motivation and rationales (Ani 1994, 95-100).

There is little, almost no discussion and/or analysis of the African's position regarding medicine. It is significant to note that in the general literature regarding enslavement, scholars debate and affirm the perceived quasi-human status of the African. The notion that people of African descent were not human, or at least were not the same human species as the White race permeates antebellum medical thought. In addition, Most studies do not provide discussion as to the Africans response to the medical care/treatment that he received. Furthermore, African illnesses/diseases were "separated"—categorized and made different—from the same illnesses/diseases experienced by Whites. Slaveowners, through the medical journals read by plantation physicians, were alerted to the relationship between diet/nutrition and well-being, yet because of racial beliefs and economic priorities, they rarely acted upon this knowledge.

The general health of enslaved Africans was influenced by numerous external forces (See Appendix A: A List of Related Risk Factors to Medical Health Among Africans of Southeastern Louisiana). In Louisiana, as elsewhere in the slaveocracy, the maintenance of the general health of enslaved Africans was, in a very limited sense, stated or implied in the Black Codes of the French, Spanish and American regimes. Plantations usually had their own systems for providing medical care which often rested on the report of the overseer or plantation manager. On the plantation the slaveowner, his wife, and the overseer had the final say about the care enslaved Africans received. The slaveowner made the final determination when a licensed, trained physician was consulted. However, it became quite common for large plantations to have a "plantation doctor" in residence, an infirmary or at least a "sickhouse." The slaveowners weighed the cost of medical care against the value of the enslaved African. Often physicians were called in too late to save the patient. A slaveowner might surmise that his best alternative would be to forgo medical care and work the slave for the unknown number of years he or she had left. Furthermore, slaveowners often relied on ineffective home and folk remedies to cure enslaved Africans.

Mortality and morbidity were important issues to the slaveowner as death and disease affected his investment in the slave property. However, mortality is a difficult issue to accurately examine in the general scheme of the existence of the African, since so many life threatening factors presented themselves. According to John Duffy, the life of an enslaved African was precarious in that h/she:

Suffered from their native African disorders and were brought into contact with a host of European ailments. Add to these factors, hard manual labor, a restricted diet, and the psychological impact of slavery, and it is easy to see why the slave population had to be constantly replenished (Duffy 1967, 6).

The babies of enslaved Africans had the highest mortality rate, due to poor pre-natal care, the ravages of disease and accidental (or intentional) death (Kiple and Kiple 1977, 284-306; Steckel 1986, 721-741) and in general the high mortality rate of the 1800s. For adults, mortality risks were also dictated by the behavior of the African. Capital punishment (execution) was a legal means of responding to attempts the African made to gain freedom or to retaliate against Whites through such activities as striking a White person, murder, insurrection, conspiracy and running away.

Regarding African retentions of medicine, whenever the voice of the African is presented, it is generally characterized as nothing more than the anecdotal ramblings of a largely illiterate people. The testimonies of formerly enslaved Africans are often described as the "quaint folkways" of bondsmen who were the backbone to the development of the antebellum South. The narratives of former enslaved Africans are often questioned regarding their significance and validity in scholarly research (Phillips 1929, 219). A concern among historiographers is that since many of the accounts were given years after enslavement officially ended, Africans probably exaggerated the reality of the institution or were otherwise less than truthful in their testimonies and recollections.

Because of their social status, and the limited access of education to many members of White American society, the enslaved African was not educated. In the Louisiana testimonies John McDonald stated that he couldn't read or write because "if my boss-man catch me with a pencil or paper, it was twenty-five lashes" (Clayton 1990, 164-165). There were harsher penalties for Africans attempting to acquire literacy skills and there are notable exceptions regarding the educational efforts on the part of enslaved Africans and some slaveowners. However, the majority of Africans were, of course, not able to keep written records of their lives as slaves. Conversely, slaveowners kept numerous detailed records regarding the life of Africans. Many slaveowners kept birth and death records, medical records, food and supplies issued to the slave, insurance and mortgage documents, inventories of slaves (sometimes called slave rolls), bills of sale and whipping logs. The Last Will and Testament of the slaveowners, their bequest and succession documents, detailed their property holdings which included their slave property. In addition, slaveowners—largely males and the few sole White female owner/managers of slaves (Webb 1983, 49)—often kept journals and diaries and wrote letters which provide an insight into their attitudes, feelings and perspectives about enslaved Africans and often about the machinery of control which operated the institution of enslavement. Slaveowners and their families kept private and official (public) documents on transactions involving enslaved Africans; and in addition to the letters to their families, friends and colleagues, they also produced advertisements and announcements of slave sales which offer their impressions on the lot of enslaved Africans.

Years after the institution of enslavement was formally abolished, the voice of the African regarding enslavement was still not reckoned with. Some early White scholars responded to the institution of enslavement with apologist analysis and "objective" interpretations which supported the traditional views of Africans in American historiography. By 1924, the editor of the Louisiana Historical Quarterly commented on the study of slavery:". . . the present generation has never been concerned with it, in any shape or form. It is for us purely a matter of history and it does not seem amiss to begin to study it now" (Dart 1924, 332). Henry P. Dart was speaking largely to the White historians who would research and record the system of enslavement in the United States, particularly the experiences of Louisiana and the old South. Dart's perspective is apologetic in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface to the Liberated Scholars Press Reprint
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• List of Tables
• Introduction
• PART ONE—OVERVIEW OF ENSLAVEMENT AND MEDICINE
• PART TWO—AFRICANS, MEDICAL THEORIES AND PRACTICES
• PART THREE—AFRICAN MATERIA MEDICA AND ENSLAVEMENT
• APPENDICES
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author