Black Medicine/White Bodies: An Investigation of Yellow Fever Epidemics in Charleston 1854-1871

Exhibition Website

Jan 12 2017 - May 6 2017

McKissick Museum

Columbia, SC

The exhibition entitled Black Medicine/White Bodies: An Investigation of Yellow Fever Epidemics in Charleston 1854-1871 focuses on the role of traditional African folk healers in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The exhibit examines the lasting contributions of traditional African folk healers to South Carolina’s history by illustrating the contrasting approaches to healthcare and treatment of disease by African folk healers and mainstream Western medical practitioners during the yellow fever epidemics that plagued Charleston during the mid-19th century. 

Features of the exhibit include: interactive architectural displays, 19th century artifacts representing medical tool kits from both African folk healers and White Western physicians, and public programming events such as invited speakers, an interactive performance, and a performance by a hoodoo doctor.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

  • American
  • 19th Century
  • History
  • Various artists

Exhibition Venues & Dates