Physicians, women, and slaves: the professionalization of medicine in the long nineteenth century

Abstract

In nineteenth-century America, the professionalization of medicine elevated the status of doctors within American society, resulting in increased authority and public respect for the profession. This transition manifested through the publication of professional and popular medical literature published between 1840 and 1910. Although there have been examinations of the effects of professionalization on women and the enslaved, there is little research into the way that it manifested itself through the literature. Public perception of women and the enslaved was directly affected by biomedical research, as well as social and intellectual thought. Although these theories were debated and not entirely embraced by laypeople, the authority claimed by doctors as the only providers of true medical knowledge gave them legitimacy. These ideas became ideals within society and defined what it meant to be male or female, black or white. This thesis contends that the perception of women and the enslaved was negatively affected by the professionalization of medicine and was reflected through various publications, which were consumed by the public and professionals alike. One of the effects was to affirm cultural stereotypes of white women as weak and inferior to white men. The other was that male and female enslaved Africans were categorized scientifically as racially inferior to white men and white women. This increased the lifespan of proslavery arguments and created a legacy of prejudicial thought that carried over well into the twentieth century. While professionalization was beneficial to doctors, their newfound authority allowed them to legitimize the subordination of women and the enslaved.