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Until the Well Runs Dry: Medicine and the Exploitation of Black Bodies
directed by Shawn Utsey, fl. 2011; produced by Virginia Commonwealth University. Department of African American Studies and Burn Baby Burn Productions (United States: Privately Published, 2011), 1 hour
The practice of disinterring cadavers (grave robbing or bodysnatching) for purposes of medical dissection was widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Those individuals who job was to secure bodies for the dissecting labs of medical colleges were known as Resurrectionists. During the 1...
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directed by Shawn Utsey, fl. 2011; produced by Virginia Commonwealth University. Department of African American Studies and Burn Baby Burn Productions (United States: Privately Published, 2011), 1 hour
Description
The practice of disinterring cadavers (grave robbing or bodysnatching) for purposes of medical dissection was widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Those individuals who job was to secure bodies for the dissecting labs of medical colleges were known as Resurrectionists. During the 1800’s, Richmond, Virginia was a bustling market for the domestic trade in enslaved Africans, and as a consequence had become a litera...
The practice of disinterring cadavers (grave robbing or bodysnatching) for purposes of medical dissection was widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Those individuals who job was to secure bodies for the dissecting labs of medical colleges were known as Resurrectionists. During the 1800’s, Richmond, Virginia was a bustling market for the domestic trade in enslaved Africans, and as a consequence had become a literal black market in black bodies, both living and dead. African American cemeteries were especially vulnerable to the nighttime activities of the Resurrectionists and produced most of the anatomical material for the Medical College of Virginia. The legacy of grave robbing for medical dissection is so indelibly etched into the psyches of African Americans that today many long-time Richmond (VA) residents still recount stories from their childhood of warnings to stay clear of the Medical College of Virginia late at night for fear that they might be snatched away to the dissecting room never to be seen or heard from again. This documentary chronicles the history of this nefarious practice and its relationship to contemporary attitudes of African Americans towards medicine.
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Field of Study
Health Policy
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Virginia Commonwealth University. Department of African American Studies, Burn Baby Burn Productions, Iman Shabazz, fl. 2011
Author / Creator
Shawn Utsey, fl. 2011
Date Published / Released
2011
Publisher
Privately Published
Speaker / Narrator
Iman Shabazz, fl. 2011
Topic / Theme
Corpses, Medical schools, Jim Crow laws, 1876 - 1965, Reconstruction, US, 1865-1877, Slavery and Abolition, 1776 - 1865, African Americans
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2009 Shawn Utsey
Historical Event
Jim Crow laws, 1876 - 1965, Reconstruction, US, 1865-1877, Slavery and Abolition, 1776 - 1865
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