Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Thomas Jefferson

  • Soul power

    Shannon Adams-Hartung Chicago, Illinois, United States Soul food has deep historical, cultural, and economic roots in the African American community. Much of the cuisine affiliated with modern-day soul food dates back to the era of American slavery. Before the fourteenth century, the African diet was primarily vegetarian. Meat was used sparingly in comparison to various…

  • Drapetomania: A “disease” that never was

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Slavery is next to hell.” – Harriet Tubman “And before I’d be a slave,I’ll be buried in my grave…”– Oh, Freedom, African-American spiritual Slavery arrived in what later became the United States in 1619. Slaves were used mainly as agricultural laborers. In the US South, that meant working with tobacco and cotton…

  • The three contraries of Benjamin Franklin: “The gout, the stone and not yet master of all my passions”

    James L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States On May 23, 1785, Benjamin Franklin wrote from Passy on the outskirts of Paris to George Whatley that “at Fourscore the three contraries that have befallen me, being subject to the Gout and the Stone, and not yet Master of all my passions.”1 It is a long letter and…

  • Benjamin Rush—Heritage and hope

    C. Frederick KittleChicago, Illinois, United States Excerpted from the The Proceedings of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, Vol. 34, 1981. Based on a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Alumni Association of Rush Medical College, September 13, 1976. Reprinted from Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s “Magazine,” Winter 1976–77. In his biographies it is stated simply:…

  • Bleeding science dry: The history of scientific racism and blood

    Matthew CasasKansas City, United States One might be familiar with the expression “We All Bleed Red.” But what exactly does blood have to say about our “humanity”? Ripe with good intention, the aforementioned mantra represents a campaign to promote peace by winning over the hearts and minds of those assumed to be unaware of a…

  • Thomas Jefferson’s medical schools

    John EhrhardtPatrick O’LearyMiami, Florida, United States Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States of America, devoted much of his life to science, medicine, and education. Entering the College of William & Mary at sixteen, he was mentored in science and philosophy by Professor William Small. Though Jefferson…