Xenophobic fear mongering that posit germs as having a particular country of origin has been broadcast loudly since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic upon our daily lives. However, this incorrect and harmful ideology did not original in 2020, but has long existed on our shores. The term "Nativism" refers to the strongly held belief in the superiority of established inhabitants of the United States over the new and decidedly "foreign" (read Catholic or Jewish) immigrants, an ideology that flourished from the 1840's on. It was held that the allowance of foreign-born immigrants posed a fatal threat to “authentic” or “true” citizens of this country. Moreover, public health as a medical specialty was in its infancy, thus allowing a toxic mix of xenophobia, nationalism, and violence to wreck harm on those seeking safety and new opportunities on new shores. The sharp rise in immigration between the late 19th and early 20th century also gave rise to a novel “science:” eugenics. In what would form the basis of future events, medical nativism found a suitable praxis in eugenics, which evangelized selective breeding and birth control including sterilization in order to “breed out” undesirable traits in favor of an improved population. Sadly, medical racism, including sterilization and xenophobia cloaked in public health concerns, remains an ever-present threat to members of our community today.
This documentary film explores the exploitation committed by the scientific community to "prove" that inviduals, such as Indigenous or African persons were examples of the lowest rung of humanity, a concept bolstered by the work of Charles Darwin and his contemporaries in them emerging field of evolutionary biology. This documentary explores this forgotten trends in the cannon of medical racism.
Photo by Renato Danyi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grey-skulls-piled-on-ground-1096925/Photo by Renato Danyi
For many, there was no dignity in death or in life. Samuel Morton, the 19thh century scientist and father of phrenology, utilized skull measurements to support polygeny as scientific fact, as well as the existence of five separate classes of "race" defined by variations in skull formation. Museums and medical schools are now wrestling with his legacy and collection. See below for further reading.
Penn Museum: Update on the Morton Collection: Because Morton was a Philadelphia-based physician and scientist, Penn Museum held Morton's collection. Click on the link to discover more.
The Ghost in the Museum: A broad examination of skulls in museums across the country, now wrestling with a racist legacy of human remains
Indigenous Remains Do Not Belong to Science: This article from Scientific America discusses the lack of dignity and burial afforded to Indigenous remains.
