Historical paintings continues into the nineteenth century offering a glimpse into the hidden and forgotten moments illustrating the racial torture against the black female slave body as not human. Another example of exposing the myth of the black body is the scientific racism towards female slaves in Robert Thom’s oil painting J. Marion Sims: Gynecologic Surgeon. In the1950’s, Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical commissioned, Robert Thom an American illustrator who specialized in historical medical scenes to paint the 13 X 10 painting. Depending who is viewing the painting of Dr. Sims and the slave girl, he is either a champion of women’s health (Spettel & White, 2010) or a butcher (Ojanuga, 1993). In the painting, Dr. Sims is standing on the far…show more content… Dr. Sims is gazing at her with his hands folded holding a metroscope and thinking about his next experiment. Thom has centered Betsey in the middle of the painting, patiently sitting on the table covered by a white tablecloth on her knees like a docile animal waiting for slaughter. Betsey is sitting in front of Dr. Sims wearing a red headscarf and a lovely soft blue dress as if she is going to church; with her left hand on her chest and her right hand gently lying on her knee. On the left side of the painting are two white male physicians; one is directly behind the table holding the back of a wooden gray chair looking at the back of the Betsey. The other white male physician is catacornered with his back to the viewer and looking at Dr. Sims. In front of him is a white basin sitting on a white-clothed covered wooden chest with surgical knives on it. The two white male physicians are well dressed, with the exception of a long coat and their sleeves pushed up their arms. To the far left of the painting are two other slave women, eighteen-year-old Lucy and seventeen-year-old Anarcha wearing fancy dresses peeking out from behind the white sheet that is draped in the
