Opening the stacks
Opening the stacks
The use of public health campaigns in colonial contexts, constrained by limited funding and political will, as seen in the Puerto Rican hookworm eradication efforts.
2 chapters across 1 book
The chapter chronicles the discovery and treatment of a severe hookworm epidemic in Puerto Rico by Assistant Surgeon Bailey K. Ashford, highlighting the challenges of colonial public health efforts amid poverty, natural disasters, and limited government support. It exposes the racist and unethical medical practices of Cornelius P. Rhoads, whose actions and attitudes fueled radical Puerto Rican nationalist resistance led by Pedro Albizu Campos, culminating in violent repression such as the Ponce Massacre. The chapter concludes by contrasting Rhoads's celebrated medical legacy in the mainland United States with his vilification in Puerto Rico, illustrating the erasure and contestation of imperial histories.
This chapter provides detailed notes and references that illuminate the intersections of American imperialism, urban planning, and public health in colonial contexts such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico. It highlights the exclusion of native populations from colonial governance, the use of medical campaigns like hookworm eradication as tools of control, and the ethically fraught medical experimentation and chemical warfare research conducted under U.S. colonial rule. The chapter also addresses the political repression of Puerto Rican nationalism and the controversial legacy of figures like Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads in cancer chemotherapy and racialized medical practices.