Health Care for African Americans in the Riley and Geary Counties of Rural East Kansas, 1880s-1930s: A study of the racial hardships and personal triumphs of black Kansans in professional medicine and traditional folk healing

Abstract

Margaret Henson investigates the kinds of medical care available to rural and early town-dwelling African American settlers. Using archival documents and interviews with elderly black residents from Riley and Geary Counties, she describes practices of folk healing, faith healing, black midwifery, and shared home remedies in wide practice in impoverished areas and black neighborhoods. She includes research into early hospitals in Manhattan and their admittance policies.