Open Access Edition of Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America by Leslie A. Schwalm

FAIN: DR-290432-23

University of North Carolina Press, Inc. (Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288)
Mark Simpson-Vos (Project Director: July 2022 to September 2023)

This project will publish the book Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America, written by NEH Fellow Leslie A. Schwalm (Federal Award Identification Number FT-60490-13), in an electronic open access format under a Creative Commons license, making it available for free download and distribution. The author will be paid a royalty of at least $500 upon release of the open access ebook.

Associated Products

Single Publication (Open Access eBook or Collection)
Publication Type: Single Publication
Title: Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America
Year: 2023
ISBN: 9781469672700
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Author: Leslie A. Schwalm
Abstract: This social and cultural history of Civil War medicine and science sheds important light on the question of why and how anti-Black racism survived the destruction of slavery. During the war, white Northerners promoted ideas about Black inferiority under the guise of medical and scientific authority. In particular, the Sanitary Commission and Army medical personnel conducted wartime research aimed at proving Black medical and biological inferiority. They not only subjected Black soldiers and refugees from slavery to substandard health care but also scrutinized them as objects of study. This mistreatment of Black soldiers and civilians extended after life to include dissection, dismemberment, and disposal of the Black war dead in unmarked or mass graves and medical waste pits. Simultaneously, white medical and scientific investigators enhanced their professional standing by establishing their authority on the science of racial difference and hierarchy. Drawing on archives of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, recollections of Civil War soldiers and medical workers, and testimonies from Black Americans, Leslie A. Schwalm exposes the racist ideas and practices that shaped wartime medicine and science. Painstakingly researched and accessibly written, this book helps readers understand the persistence of anti-Black racism and health disparities during and after the war.
Primary URL: https://worldcat.org/title/1370495075
Primary URL Description: Worldcat
Secondary URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469672717_schwalm
Secondary URL Description: JSTOR
URL 3: https://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Science-Making-Civil-America-ebook/dp/B0BFGDBSPL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=T5TIJ48L43ML&keywords=9781469672700&qid=1676477243&s=digital-text&sprefix=9781469672700%2Cdigital-text%2C72&sr=1-1
URL 3 Description: Kindle
Type: Single author monograph

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