Unveiling Inequalities: A Critical Examination of Racial Disparities in Healthcare

Ashley Vargas-Luna

Healthcare is a fundamental social institution in society, thought to serve noble purposes such as eradicating disease and improving health, and always changing for the better. Yet there is a dark side to the history of modern medicine that is not completely known. For our world to have modern medicine, scientists, doctors, and practitioners had to break fundamental ethical principles. This paper examines how people of color have been used since colonial times to advance medicine. Specially, how African American women’s bodies have been used against their will to conduct reproductive research. This history of exploitation and dehumanization has had intended and unintended consequences which are still being experienced today. This research shows that institutionalized racism in the medical community continues towards people of other, who often received poor treatment, prejudice, and discrimination.

• Ashley Vargas-Luna is a junior biology major from Greenwood, SC. Her achievements include being a presidential ambassador, the co-president of Somos LU, and studying abroad in Spain for a semester. She plans to pursue a career in the healthcare industry.