Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War [Kindle Edition]
Author: Margaret Humphreys | Language: English | ISBN: B004E8LY90 | Format: PDF, EPUB
Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War
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Black soldiers in the American Civil War were far more likely to die of disease than were white soldiers. In Intensely Human, historian Margaret Humphreys explores why this uneven mortality occurred and how it was interpreted at the time. In doing so, she uncovers the perspectives of mid-nineteenth-century physicians and others who were eager to implicate the so-called innate inferiority of the black body.
In the archival collections of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Humphreys found evidence that the high death rate among black soldiers resulted from malnourishment, inadequate shelter and clothing, inferior medical attention, and assignments to hazardous environments.
While some observant physicians of the day attributed the black soldiers' high mortality rate to these circumstances, few medical professionals—on either side of the conflict—were prepared to challenge the "biological evidence" of white superiority. Humphreys shows how, despite sympathetic and responsible physicians' efforts to expose the truth, the stereotype of black biological inferiority prevailed during the war and after.
Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War- File Size: 2484 KB
- Print Length: 224 pages
- Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (February 1, 2008)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B004E8LY90
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,380,205 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
While writing a history of medicine in the Civil War, historian Margaret Humphreys was side-tracked and as a result produced this scholarly monograph on the health of the black soldier. Her sources included the archival collections of the U.S. Sanitary Commission housed in the New York Public Library, documents in the National Archives and Records Administration and various texts on the social and health experience of African Americans during and after the war of the rebellion. Although about 13.5 per cent of white soldiers died during the Civil War, this figure was not only higher for black soldiers at 18.5 per cent, but the ratio of deaths from disease to battle casualties was almost four times higher among African Americans (2.7 vs 10). The most compelling statistic was the heavy toll--not from battle casualties--but mainly from inadequate provisions, health care and compassion from the regimental doctors and administrators. Among the leading health problems affecting the 140,000 black soldiers recruited from slave plantations or contraband camps were pneumonia, tuberculosis and scurvy. Humphreys presents evidence to suggest that some of these were preventable. However, the prevalent disdain for the blacks and refusal to provide adequate housing, clothing and fresh anti-scorbutic foods contributed to a higher morbidity and mortality. A scurvy epidemic in the summer of 1865 affected 60 to 80 per cent of the African American soldiers and resulted in some 2,500 preventable deaths. Some monies sent for food and medicines to alleviate hunger and malnutrition were used instead to buy and sell liquor for profit, but few were investigated or convicted. African Americans were mostly regarded as inferior both physically and intellectually--even though scientific evidence was lacking.
Unfortunately, prejudice was endemic in the Union officer corps - both line officers and medical personnel - and that mindset (and bad science) had significant and unfortunate consequences for the men of color in their care.
In her book, Intensely Human, Dr. Margaret Humphreys details the reasons why the black soldier was more likely to die from disease than his white comrades-in-arms. Relying on period medical files, Sanitary Commission reports, and correspondence of black soldiers, she describes the prejudices, faulty equipage, hard labor, and inattentive care that resulted in a longer war, and more important - in her words - "a wastage of human potential."
Intensely Human is Dr. Humphreys' third book and is actually an off-shoot of research for a larger project - a history of medicine in the Civil War - that is still in progress. It was in doing research for the bigger project that she came across the papers of Dr. Ira Russell, a wartime physician for whom the study of the health of black soldiers became a passion. Russell saw the Union's "great experiment" of regiments composed of free blacks and ex-slaves as a ready-made laboratory to research the "black body" and to explain - and protest against - the needless higher mortality and disease rates among African-American soldiers in the Civil War.
In the first few chapters, Dr. Humphreys examines prejudices against blacks, especially in terms of what now are obviously racist (and scientifically incorrect) notions about biological differences - and the potential for "full" humanity (and by extension, full citizenship) - among the races. Dr. Humphreys declares without reservation that the black soldiers "received decidedly second-class medical care."
In the main, Dr.
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