Black Feminist Theorizing Within the History of U.S. Medical Education

• In Event: Black Feminist Perspectives in the History of Education

Abstract

While there is emerging scholarship within the histories of medical education that situates Black women’s experiences as sites of epistemological development in medicine, there remains a dearth of literature that details how white supremacist patriarchal systems were designed and fortified within US medical education vis-à-vis the intellectual thought of Black women in medicine during the Progressive Era. As such, this paper argues for contextualized studies of Black women’s epistemologies in medicine to expound histories that counter the ahistorical ethos of US medical education. Applying Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought (BFT), this paper will problematize and nuance understandings of the development and reform of US medical education during the Progressive Era.

Author

• Monica Ugwu Perkins, Claremont Graduate University