As part of the University’s Black History Month celebrations, a new inclusivity exhibit opening today will be hosted at the Harold Cohen Library detailing the medical exploitation of black people through the 18th and 19th centuries.
The exhibit is titled ‘Medicine, Pseudoscience, Ethnobotany, and Enslavement’ and profiles the exploitation of enslaved people, involving the theft of their freedom as well as their indigenous knowledge of botanical remedies and impacting their physical, mental, and spiritual health.
The exhibit is part of a collaboration between Eva Teodorescu, Freddy Larsen and Dr Carl Larsen (DeCoL-SoBS-Advocates), National Museums Liverpool and Libraries, Museums and Galleries at the University of Liverpool. DeCoL-SoBS-Advocates is a staff and student-led group that discusses ways the University can decolonise its curriculum and become more inclusive.
Dr Carl Larsen, Founder of DeCoL-SoBS-Advocates commented: “The legacies of these racialised pseudoscientific theories still affect Black people today. Black women are four times more likely to die during childbirth than white women, 25% more likely to experience postpartum mental health, and Black babies are twice as likely as white babies to die within their first year after birth.”
In highlighting the legacies of individuals such as Dr James Marion Sims and Dr Samuel Cartwright, this exhibit seeks to shine a light on the dark history of medical discovery whilst also acknowledging that there is still progress to be made.
The exhibit will be on display in the Harold Cohen Library quiet room throughout Black History Month. It was funded by the University’s Libraries, Museums and Galleries and the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Equality, Diversity, Inclusivity and Wellbeing Fund.