Do You Know Anarchy? I'll Tell You!

Anarchy was a black teenage girl, enslaved in Alabama. She became one of the most experimented-on in US history. She was cut open more than 30 times without Anesthesia. But why did they do this ?. To develop surgeries for a condition white people were suffering from. This is Anarchy's story. After a long traumatic labour of about 72hours at age 17. Anarchy developed vaginal and rectal fistulas, causing tears between the birth carnal, her bladder and rectum. This caused constant leakage of urine and feces, leaving her in pain, social isolation and shame. But to Sims he saw her condition not as a tragedy but as an opportunity. He believed she was the perfect subject to test surgical procedures, he hoped to use on white women one day.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/Screenshot_20250806-165845.jpg"/>Sims wasn't trying to heal Anarchy for her own sake. He was trying to find the cure for fistulas, because white women were experiencing it also.He used Anarchy to test and refine his procedures, without her consent and without pain relief.Sims refused to give her Anesthesia claiming Black people could tolerate pain better than the white people.He operated her while she was fully awake, restrained and in agony through out. He recorded her reactions and didn't stop.Anarchy endured roughly 30 surgeries all without anesthesia. Medical colleagues were often invited to watch. Physicians crowded Anarchy as she knelt through operations . Sims described her pain as tremendous but acceptable by his standards. Once he perfected the surgery on Anarchy, Sims began treating white women. This time with Anesthesia and care.They got the benefits. Anarchy was discarded. Her pain built a legacy that she was never credited for. Anarchy wasn't alone. Two other enslaved women, Lucy and Betsey, were also operated on without anesthesia. Lucy nearly died from infection. Sims used them over and over, turning their bodies into test kits for procedures that white women will later rely on. Sims became known as the "father of modern gynecology". He opened the first women hospital in US, received international praises and had status built in his honor.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/Screenshot_20250806-165914.jpg"/>Meanwhile, Anarchy, Lucy and Betsey were never named, praised and never honoured. For more than a century their names were never mentioned. It was left out of history. Their names weren't in medical textbooks. Their suffering was hidden behind Sims success. The pain of black women was used but never acknowledged. But it changed!In 2021, artist Michelle Browder unveiled a monument in Montgomery, Alabama, honouring Anarchy, Lucy and Betsey. Calling them the mother's of gynecology . Symbolizing how black women have been treated and how their legacy endured in brokenness and beauty. It stands near the place where they were experimented on. <img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/Screenshot_20250806-170647.jpg"/>And they expect us to forget 🥺💔.

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