The Night Doctors: American Medical Terror

Tuskegee, Alabama. As history enthusiasts, we've all explored folklore at some point or another, and among these stories are some that seem so bizarre, they couldn't possibly be true. But as we've seen on this podcast, the wildest stories have an uncomfortable amount of truth in them. In today's episode, we're going to learn about what sounds like a scary bedtime story, but was a real and true horror in American history. This is the legend of the Night Doctors.

TIMELINE
1880: Back in 1880, over 40 bodies were snatched from Oakwood Cemetery and shipped up north to various medical schools.
1910: Around 6 million African-Americans migrated from the rural southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970.
1932: One significant event that contributed to the contribution of this fear was the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, which ran from 1932 to 1972.
1989: For example, in 1989, workers were excavating the old Medical College of Georgia, and they found over 9,000 bones, 80% of which belonged to African-Americans.
2017: In 2017, protests started over a statue honoring Dr. J. Marion Sims, who is a controversial figure in American medical history.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Tuskegee is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 144 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

Hometown History explores forgotten stories from small-town America. The overlooked events, hidden triumphs, and buried tragedies that shaped the country we live in. New episodes every Tuesday. Find every episode at mythsandmalice.com/hometown-history

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