Father Of Gynecology,' Who Experimented On Slaves, No Longer On Pedestal In NYC

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/17/603163394/-father-of-gynecology-who-experimented-on-slaves-no-longer-on-pedestal-in-nyc

She explained that in the 1840s, to develop a treatment for fistulas, Sims spent years experimenting on enslaved women without using anesthesia. He conducted surgeries on a number of women, but we only know the names of three of them: Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey.

"These women were property," Gamble says. "These women could not consent. These women also had value to the slaveholders for production and reproduction — how much work they could do in the field, how many enslaved children they could produce. And by having these fistulas, they could not continue with childbirth and also have difficulty working."

The surgeries, which were repeated again and again on the same women, were painful; Sims described Lucy crying and saying she felt like she would die. Sims also says the women wanted the surgeries because they wanted to be cured. As Gamble notes, we only have his word for that.

After perfecting the technique on black women, without anesthesia, Sims went on to offer it to white women. "But he treated white women with anesthesia," Gamble notes.
Resident of NYC:
"I feel that my ancestors can rest," she told the newspaper.
"Each day I walked past that statue and I saw him up there, I felt personally disrespected. ... It's a historical moment for me, and it's an emotional moment. I just feel the right thing is being done."