In 1845, James Marion Sims, “the father of gynecology,” began his work on a woman named Lucy. He performed an hour-long surgery that was meant to fix a hole between her bladder and vagina. While it wasn’t necessarily the norm at the time, no anesthetic was used for the surgery.
As The Washington Post reports, Lucy was part of a group of at least six women who endured over four years this type of treatment. Sims would poke and prod and do his best to perfect treatment and surgeries on those women that went on to shape modern gynecology today.
While advancement in the medical field is important, Sims not only did these surgeries without anesthetic, but he also only performed his surgeries on enslaved women.
Dr. James Marion Sims. “Father” of modern gynecology operated on enslaved women over and over w/no anesthesia. He has a statue in E. Harlem
— Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) August 18, 2017
For 124 years, a statue of James Marion Sims has stood in Central Park, supposedly to commemorate his advancements in the field of gynecology. However, recently, BBC News reports that the New York City Public Design Commission “unanimously approved a decision to remove the statue following a review into ‘hate symbols.'”
When the statue was unveiled in the 1890s, it was well-received. However, in light of the recent events such as the White Supremacy rally in Charlottesville last year, activists have become more vocal and critical over the statue being so prominently displayed in Central Park.
This is the first statue to be taken down in New York City commemorating members of the Confederacy and its leaders. It has been moved from Central Park to the cemetery in Brooklyn where Sims is buried.