The ‘Father of Modern Gynecology’ Performed Shocking Experiments on Slaves

James Marion Sims developed pioneering tools and surgical techniques related to women’s reproductive health, and is credited as the “father of modern gynecology.” The 19th-century physician has been lionized with statues in New York City, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. But because Sims’ research was conducted on enslaved Black women without anesthesia, medical ethicists, historians and others have