Why Did A White Doctor Give Fannie Lou Hamer A "Mississippi Appendectomy"?
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 January 2023
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The young woman gasped and sat up in her hospital bed. She felt lightheaded from the pain coursing through her – and realized her midsection had been cut open! This was supposed to be a simple procedure. What the Hell had they done?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The young woman gaffed and sat up in the hospital bed. |
| 0:05.7 | She felt light-headed from the pain coursing through her and realized her midsection had |
| 0:10.3 | been cut open. |
| 0:12.0 | This was supposed to be a simple procedure. |
| 0:15.3 | What the hell had they done? |
| 0:18.3 | This is Two Minute Black History, what you didn't learn in school. |
| 0:28.7 | Fannie Lou Hamer was supposed to have a fibroid removed from her uterus. |
| 0:34.3 | Instead, her white doctor did something much more serious and dangerous to her, and he |
| 0:40.5 | did so without her permission. |
| 0:50.1 | He performed a hysterectomy, the removal of her uterus, making her infertile. |
| 0:55.9 | She and her husband were childless, and now Hamer would never have biological children. |
| 1:02.1 | Even worse, Hamer soon found out that she wasn't the only black woman this happened to. |
| 1:08.7 | It was called a Mississippi appendectomy, slang for giving black women unnecessary and non-consensual |
| 1:15.8 | hysterectomies. |
| 1:17.6 | These procedures were meant to curtail the black population, but for Hamer, this violation |
| 1:23.4 | of her body had another effect. |
| 1:26.3 | She decided to fight back. |
| 1:29.2 | After adopting two girls, she got trained in community organizing and voting rights. |
| 1:34.8 | She helped create freedom summer to organize black voters and even founded a black political |
| 1:40.5 | party to strengthen the black vote. |
| 1:43.9 | Her daughter even continues, Hamer's fight for equality today. |
| 1:48.4 | Fannie Lou Hamers' reproductive organs were stolen from her, but she still gave birth |
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