The 1897 St. James Dispensary Riot

What the incident suggests is how science and medicine colluded in the process of constructing black children as racially inferior even as their high rates of mortality begged for medical attention. During this time in American history, controversial human dissection was practiced on whites and so the Savannah story must be seen in this context – both for the possibility that the children’s allegations against the St. James Dispensary were true, and to understand blacks’ outrage. As human vivisection became increasingly unpopular by the early 20th century, less cruel and sinister uses of black children’s bodies took place under the veil of scientific respectability and in service to white supremacy.