Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

History

Committee Chair

BEVERLY BOND

Committee Member

ARAM GOUDSOUZIAN

Committee Member

COOKIE WOOLNER

Committee Member

CHARLES CRAWFORD

Abstract

Letoshia, Foster, Ph.D. The University of Memphis, August 2020. Beyond What We Knew: Health, and Disease Among Blacks: With an Emphasis on Women in Memphis, From Slavery to Early Twentieth CenturyThis dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of health issues among Black people in Memphis from the antebellum period through the early twentieth century. Throughout this period, slavery and Jim Crow had an inescapable effect on black Memphians lives. Race and gender were strong indicators for poor health outcomes. The topics of morbidity and mortality among Blacks over a seventy-year period is reflected in various types of scholarship, especially medical history and regional histories on race, gender, and disease. By examining primary sources that have been overlooked by historians, this dissertation will detail how gender and race created physical and psychosocial health problems for Black people, especially women. This study also describes the sociocultural ideologies of racism and segregation that resulted in poor health and early deaths for Blacks. This dissertation situates Blacks as community advocates for racial uplift and agency. I will demonstrate how the Black middle class and healthcare professionals in Memphis addressed health problems, particularly health disparities, in their communities by creating medical institutions, establishing training schools for nurses, and developing alternative institutions to improve care.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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