Texas Tech Honors College will host award-winning author Harriet Washington for a public talk and brief Q&A on Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. through Zoom. Washington will speak about racial justice and public health issues as the college recognizes Black History Month in hopes that the conversation will continue long after.
Medical Apartheid – Harriet Washington. Discussion will take place via Zoom on Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. (Texas Tech Honors College)
Washington is a medical ethicist and American writer. Her book Medical Apartheid won the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. Her book has been described as the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans according to Book Browse.
According to Lancet Journals, since 1619–when the first enslaved people were brought to the British Colony of Virginia–until June 19, 1865–when the last enslaved Black person was emancipated in the USA–Black people, and especially Black women, endured violent medical treatment and experimentation against their will. Enslaved Black people’s bodies were exploited for the development of some aspects of U.S. medical education in the 19th century.
Dr. Aliza Wong, interim dean of Texas Tech’s Honors College and history professor in the Honors College, said Washington’s book being discussed at this event will explain to people how the medical field “exploited Black bodies.”
Dr. Aliza Wong – professor and associate dean, Honors College (Texas Tech Website)
“In order to experiment, in order to get more data, and more evidence,” Wong said. “Her book is really about the system by which, Black men and women were used by certain doctors and scientists in order to further scientific knowledge.”
Wong said the idea behind this talk began with the Honors College students.
“Honors College pre-med students, who are now in medical school were the ones that said, ‘You have to read this book, this is life-changing. This changes the way I think about my role and responsibility as a physician’,” Wong said.
Dr. Dave Louis, associate professor in the College of Education and affiliate faculty in the Honors and Women and Gender Studies program. (Texas Tech Website)
Dr. Dave Louis, associate professor in the College of Education and affiliate faculty in the Honors and Women and Gender Studies program, said he wants people to listen and understand “the different experiences of different populations” in the United States.
“I think one of the things that always comes out of conversations like this is, it is difficult to hear the fractured history, the inequitable history, within the United States,” Louis said. “The reality is that we have to hear these stories and understand these inequalities for us to truly heal as a people.”
Louis said he thinks “there is a lot of space for self-reflection” as a result of this talk.
“I think she’s going to be a fantastic speaker, and I think she’s really going to give a perspective, yes it will be focused on the medical field but, I think we within society have to be more aware that there are lingering societal differences with different populations,” Louis said. “I think it will allow us to evolve and become better people, better society.”
Wong said she hopes this talk sparks the beginning of a new conversation not just during Black History month but for months to come.
“This is the beginning of the conversation, and we need to not shy away from the difficult conversations,” Wong said. “We have to be able to ask one another, ‘How do I talk about this? What are the ways in which we can be civil?’ We can be evidence-based, we can be scientifically driven, we can be respectful, we can be sensitive, we can be thoughtful.”
For more information, visit the Honors College on Twitter.
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