Art & Reproductive Justice
As part of our multidisciplinary educational programming, the Resilient Sisterhood Project uses art as a catalyst—and draws on the Sankofa principle of looking to the past to understand the present. Through curated artwork, we tell the stories of historical and present-day injustices, but we also honor our ancestors and show the empowerment of Black women over time. Consistent with this vision, we educate the public, inspire introspection, and encourage people to learn more about the lives of those who came before them.
Since the launch of our Art & Reproductive Justice program in 2019, RSP has commissioned a total of seven artworks and hosted an art exhibition in collaboration with the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research entitled Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to Our Foremothers in Gynecology.
Our Foremothers in Gynecology
RSP’s art collection draws a deliberate historical focus on the intersection of health, medical, and socio-political concepts of race and Black women’s reproductive health. While recognizing the harm and exploitation of Black women’s reproductive health in the United States caused by the institution of slavery, we also seek to illustrate the stories that uplift the human dignity of our foremothers of gynecology, including Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy, as well as an untold number of unnamed ancestors.
The Harm and Exploitation of Black Women’s Bodies
During the 1840s in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. James Marion Sims, long lauded by the medical establishment as “the father of modern gynecology,” exercised inhumane and unethical conduct through his experiments on nearly a dozen Black girls and women. Unfortunately, the names of only three women he operated on are known today—Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy. In an era when anesthesia was beginning to be used for operations, these multiple surgeries were done without the benefit of anesthetics because he claimed that Black people did not feel as much pain as white people.
Sims is credited with having invented the vaginal speculum and a corrective method for vesicovaginal fistulas—a severe disability often caused by prolonged labor, particularly among young women. Vesicovaginal fistulas were a common problem for all women in the 19th century. However, they were frequently by-products of slavery, due to malnutrition, repeated rapes, and unspaced pregnancies demanded by slave owners. Sims noted that he conducted thirty experimental surgeries on Anarcha alone before finally perfecting the techniques to repair this condition.
In 2019, RSP unveiled its first three paintings in honor of Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy. We chose to commission the well-known African American artist Jules Arthur to create the paintings because of his brilliance at capturing complex Black historical narratives. The paintings by Mr. Arthur dignify the experiences of these young women by reframing the narrative away from the focus on Dr. Sims as the “father of modern gynecology." Mr. Arthur humanizes them through his artistic genius rather than showing them as mere victims of Dr. Sims. Although these young women were not nameless, we have no images of them to know what they may have looked like. With the creation of this group of paintings, Mr. Arthur gives us the faces of Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy as he poignantly portrays their struggles and sisterhood born of shared trauma. We hope the paintings elicit curiosity, empathy, and introspection, and we invite you to bear witness alongside us.
Remembering Our Foremothers Event
As we continued our Art & Reproductive Justice programming, RSP commissioned three more paintings from Jules Arthur. The three new paintings highlight the roles of many doctors for being complicit in upholding the institution of slavery, beginning with the Middle Passage. Among other things, these physicians used their positions as medical professionals to provide certificates of "soundness" that commodified and determined the monetary value of enslaved people to insurance companies and slave owners. In addition, some doctors also produced pseudoscientific research to justify and promote slavery.
In 2023, RSP was honored to co-host an art exhibition alongside the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Call and Response: A Narrative Reverence of Our Foremothers in Gynecology, curated by artist, scholar, and curator Dell Marie Hamilton, was a groundbreaking exhibition that featured the six paintings commissioned by RSP. In addition to our paintings, Call and Response included the work of artists Vinnie Bagwell, Michelle Browder, Michelle Hartney, and Jeremy Daniel.
Ultimately, this collaboration between the Hutchins Center and RSP is part of our call and response to educate and draw attention to the intersection of the socio-political concepts of race, gender, and Black women's reproductive health and rights. We must all work together to continue telling the story of Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and the many unnamed ancestors. We want to lift their memory because they helped create the paths that make our lives possible today as doctors, researchers, scientists, and so much more. Onward we go with our Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to Our Foremothers in Gynecology.
RSP is deeply grateful to all of the people who generously supported the commission of these paintings.
Opening Ceremony of Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to Our Foremothers in Gynecology
Photography by Melissa Blackall
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In 2020, RSP hosted a virtual event to observe Juneteenth titled Communal Lament in a Time of Crisis. June 19, 1865, marked the beginning of Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, it was not until June 19, 1865, that the enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas learned of their freedom.
However, racial inequity or even other forms of slavery in the United States did not end. Overturning racism and instilling racial equality is still an uphill battle. With this in mind, RSP commissioned the above artwork by Elijah Marshall titled The Path Up. Unveiled at the Communal Lament event, The Path Up offers a different perspective on the myth of Sisyphus as we relate it to the struggles that have faced Black people throughout history and the struggles that face Black people today.
The Myth of Sisyphus
The myth of Sisyphus contains a well-known uphill battle. According to Greek mythology, Zeus punished King Sisyphus for cheating death. For all of eternity, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a great boulder toward the peak of a mountain, only for the boulder to roll back down whenever it neared the top. For hundreds of years, Black people living in the United States have been handed the Rock of Sisyphus in the form of racial injustices, inequity, and trauma stemming from centuries-old systematic racism—both past and present. Overturning racism and instilling racial equity is still an uphill battle, and generational and systemic racism still weigh heavily on Black people in America today.
The Path Up
In Marshall’s work, four figures heave boulders to the peak of a mountain like Sisyphus. Mr. Marshall explains that he designed the figures to represent the struggle for racial equity. The figures represent the four hundred years of mistreatment and subjugation that Black people have endured. As these people traverse the mountain, their boulders become smaller and more jagged. The smaller boulders reflect the progress made throughout our history, and the jagged ones show the resistance to the white supremacy that exists to this day.
Mr. Marshall wants us to see a different ending to the Sisyphus myth. The purpose of this piece of art is not merely to remind us of the suffering endured—but to affirm that we continue to make progress. There is a possibility of reaching the summit that lies ahead. With this work and the Communal Lament event, we both condemn the oppressive weight of the boulders and gather strength through hope, resistance, and solidarity.
We invite you to look closely at the image above and see the myth of Sisyphus in a new light.