Mothers of Gynecology

 Mothers of Gynecology by Michelle Bowder. What is it exactly? Well it is a monument made in 2021 that

resides in Montgomery, Alabama that depicts three enslaved black women who were used in medical

experimentation by Dr. James Marion Sims in the late 1840s in the same state. The monument consists of larger

than life sized figures of the three women [Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsy] and a displaced womb from Anarcha. The

piece is made out of discarded metal. 

For years, James Marion Sims has been considered and hailed as The Father of Modern Gynecology for his invention of the tools used by gynecologists today and for the successful surgery method in removing vesicovaginal fistula. Before he was able to succeed, he had many failures with the operation for patients, all black and enslaved women, and the devestating facts include never giving them anethesia, even when they had already introduced a small bit of it, having to do countless surgeries on them, having them always be on all fours, naked, and observed while they were being operated on, etc. 

When he moved to New York, he not only brought along his ‘successes’, but he also brought along the myth that black people can withstand higher levels of pain than any other race, let alone their white counterparts. This has always pervailed before Sims, but he made this myth hold more power to beliefs instead of individual withstanding. That myth still happens today with many black women being treated terribly by the medical world and with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) citing that, “In 2021, the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black (subsequently, Black) women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.6 times the rate for non-Hispanic White (subsequently, White) women (26.6) [(Figure 1 and Table)] Rates for Black women were significantly higher than rates for White and Hispanic women. The increases from 2020 to 2021 for all race and Hispanic-origin groups were significant.”, black women are still dying at higher rates than their white peers because of medical ignorance.

Igniting her passion for telling the stories of black people that history seems to forget, Bowder first encountered the story during college stating, “I was triggered. From there, I promised myself that, one day, I will change that narrative.” and fulfilled the promise she made to herself when she saw the Sims statue one day in Montegomery with the reasoning being that she “was horrified. I still am. If he’s the father of gynecology, the father of modern gynecology, then they are the mothers?” With this in mind and the tools she gathered, Bowder got to work on making a placeholder for those that were forgotten in pursuit of modern science.

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