African Americans in Civil War Medicine

Lunch provided at NOON - Talk begins at 12:10pm

In addition to liberation of America's slaves, the Civil War also promoted the professional development of African American physicians and nurses in surprising ways. This talk highlights the career of Dr. J.D. Harris, an African American born free in Fayetteville, NC, who served as a surgeon during the war.

A specialist in the history of science and medicine, Margaret Humphreys, MD, PhD has focused her research and publications primarily on infectious disease in the U.S. and the American south, as well as the history of medicine during the American Civil War. Dr. Humphreys has also published on the history of diabetes, public health ethics, and colonial medicine. Of special note are her books Intensely Human: The Health of Black Soldiers in the American Civil War (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), and, most recently, Marrow of Tragedy: The Health Crisis of the American Civil War (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).