There is a statue in South Carolina honoring a man who is known as the father of modern gynecology.

The inscription on the statue reads,

the first surgeon of the ages in ministry to women treating a like,

Empress and slave.

J. Marion Sims was a physician who was born in South Carolina in 1813.

This is Vanessa Northington Gamble.

She's a physician and medical historian at the George Washington University.

We asked her to come in to tell us the story of J. Marion Sims,

who is memorialized in statues not only in South Carolina,

but also in Montgomery, Alabama and Central Park in New York City.

He started a clinic in Montgomery, Alabama,

and at the time, in order to survive financially, he also was a plantation physician,

where he took care of the enslaved one plantations.

This is where the story of Sims becomes complicated.

Because yes, the inscription on the statue in South Carolina is true.

He did invent techniques that help women to this day.

He treated slaves as well as high society.

He once treated Empress Eugenie, the last Empress of France.

But there is something not mentioned on the inscriptions on the statues.

Starting in 1845, he started to conduct experiments on enslaved women.

And why we talk about Sims today and why that statue was there

is that he perfected a technique to repair a condition called

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