Podcasts/Radio

UnTextBooked: The Forgotten Mothers of Modern Gynecology

“On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Ruba Memon interviews Deirdre Cooper Owens, author of the book Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology. They talk about how America’s history of slavery and racism continues to influence medicine in ways that harm Black people at disproportionate rates.”

Lovecraft Country Radio: Holy Ghost - Episode 3

"Dr. Cooper Owen's work on enslaved women is helping to shape popular culture. Medical Bondage was used as necessary research for the NY Times critically-acclaimed play "Behind the Sheets" written by Charly Evon Simpson. Also, on the HBO acclaimed new series "Lovecraft Country," show screenwriter, Shannon Houston, names Dr. Cooper Owens' work and the concept of "medical superbodies" to explain the history of medical experimentation in American reproductive medicine."

ForHarriet: How the exploitation of enslaved women created gynecology w/ Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens

Black women's bodies are less protected today than during slavery.

Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens (@deirdrecooperowens), author of Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and Origins of American Gynecology, explains why Black women's reproduction was viewed as valuable during slavery and why Black women and children are now portrayed as societal burdens.

Birth Justice NYC Podcast: Sn 1 Ep 02: A Brief History of American Gynecology with Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens

Season 1 Episode 2 features an interview with professor Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens. We discuss a brief history of American gynecology and we reflect on what this history means in present day gynecological care, including her own experiences of medical racism.

How Modern Medicine was Born of Slavery 

Modern gynecology was largely born in the antebellum South -- because some of this country’s first gynecologists conducted experiments on enslaved women.  This history is explored in a new book, “Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and The Origins Of American Gynecology.” Our guest is author Deirdre Cooper Owens, an Assistant Professor at Queens College in New York. Her book came out November 15, on the University of Georgia Press.

Teaching Hard History: Diverse Experiences of the Enslaved

Most students leave school thinking enslaved people lived like characters in Gone With the Wind. Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens reveals the remarkable diversity of lived experiences within slavery and explains the gap between what scholars and students know.