Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

Content Warning: The source material and this guide include discussions of racism, eugenics, and medical experimentation.

Bioterrorism is the use of pathogens, bacteria, or other biological weapons to cause widespread death and illness, or the threat to do so to achieve a political or ideological outcome. An example of bioterrorism that Washington cites in Medical Apartheid is the attempt to develop bioweapons that only attack people with darker skin.

The term eugenics was coined by Francis Galton in 1883 to describe the ideology of selectively breeding humans to achieve an ideal population. Eugenics inherently discriminates against certain populations by labeling them as undesirable. There are two main eugenics branches: positive and negative eugenics. Positive eugenics, similar to positive reinforcement, aims to encourage reproduction among “desirable” populations to reproduce certain traits. Negative eugenics, similar to negative reinforcement, aims to suppress the reproduction of “nondesirable” populations. One example of eugenics cited in Medical Apartheid is the forced sterilization of Black women.

Iatrophobia is a fear of doctors and is often considered an irrational phobia. Though iatrophobia can affect people of any race, Washington explores the historical justification of iatrophobia among Black Americans—she asserts that their iatrophobia is rational because the medical establishment frequently mistreats Black people.