327: Another Burden to Bear: A History of Racial Health Disparities in America

BackStory

History, Education

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2020

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color. According to the CDC, 33% of people who’ve been hospitalized due to the virus have been African-American, despite making up only 18% of the population. The ongoing crisis is a reminder of the racial health disparities that have plagued the United States throughout its history. So on this episode of BackStory, Joanne and Brian learn about how different communities have struggled to acquire adequate health care.

NOTE: This episode was recorded before protests took place across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer. The protests, in addition to the death toll of COVID-19, serve as brutal reminders of the systemic inequalities afflicting communities of color.

Suggested Reading:

Murray, Shaw, and Siegel’s Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories (Law Stories Series)

Jim Crow in the Asylum: Psychiatry and Civil Rights in the American South by Kylie Smith

Madness in the City of Magnificent Intentions: A History of Race and Mental Illness in the Nation’s Capital by Martin Summers

Transcript

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0:00.0	Major funding for backstories provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment
0:04.9	for the Humanities and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.
0:12.0	From Virginia Humanities, this is Backstories.
0:21.2	Welcome to Backstories, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines.
0:25.4	I'm Brian Bauer.
0:26.9	I'm Joanne Freeman.
0:28.5	If you're new to the podcast, each week, along with our colleagues at Airs and Nathan
0:32.7	Connelly, we explore a different aspect of American history.
0:43.6	In 1932, 600 African American men in Alabama were told by the Public Health Service that
0:50.6	they were receiving free healthcare from the federal government.
0:55.0	In reality, the PHS in partnership with the Tuskegee Institute was conducting a study
1:01.6	to examine the natural history of syphilis.
1:11.6	Nearly 400 of the men in the study had syphilis.
1:14.9	The other 200 did not.
1:17.4	But the men were not informed of their diagnosis.
1:20.7	Instead, the PHS told them they were being treated for, quote, bad blood, a casual term
1:27.6	used to describe a mix of ailments like syphilis, anemia, and fatigue.
1:33.8	The project was originally planned to take about six months.
1:37.8	Instead, it lasted for 40 years.
1:47.4	In 1972, the Associated Press broke the news of the Tuskegee study to the public.
1:53.6	It was met with swift backlash.
1:56.4	The study ended that year after a panel found the men with syphilis had never received proper
	...

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