Say Anarcha

Reviews

"This compelling, extremely well-researched account of the life of an enslaved Black woman changes the historical narrative surrounding J. Marion Sims and engages us in a sober reckoning over the legacy of slavery, medical experimentation and gynecology. This extraordinary book forces us to recognize that "Anarcha" is a name we should say, remember and reflect upon as we still contend with a history of racial injustice that has left us vulnerable to continuing racial disparities in health care, injustice and unnecessary suffering."
—Bryan Stevenson, bestselling author of Just Mercy and founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative

"With painstaking historical research and loving persistence, J.C. Hallman has pieced together the fragments of the life of a woman who otherwise would have been less than a footnote. At the same time, Hallman has corrected the sanitized story of J. Marion Sims. This fully realized account of their entwined histories restores the humanity and dignity of Anarcha and other Black women whose sacrifices advanced and modernized medicine in America and the world."
—Linda Villarosa, author of Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

"Although she was not counted as a person until 1869, Anarcha, the enslaved woman at the center of J.C. Hallman’s fascinating history Say Anarcha, proved herself to be a shimmering star from the heavens, a “comet” as one slave owner once put it, who navigated her own life on earth with intelligence, bravery, and mercy. The author rescues Anarcha from the shadow of J. Marion Sims and restores her to her rightful position of American hero. Hallman reminds us on every page that Anarcha’s place as the so-called “mother of gynecology” is as much a foundation of the United States as was the writing of the Constitution, or the marches of the Civil War, or the prophetic showers, from slavery times until freedom, of the heavenly bodies. Say Anarcha is a masterpiece of research and storytelling and should be made required reading everywhere. A massive accomplishment."
—Carolyn Ferrell, author of Dear Miss Metropolitan

"The Story of America is one built on the backs of Black women, who, despite brutal bondage, abuse, cruelty, and dehumanization, managed to save this country from itself. It is the story of women like Anarcha who were forced to sacrifice everything, even her life, so that millions of women would continue to live theirs. Say Anarcha is more than a glorious corrective to an unjust erasure of history. It restores an extraordinary life to a time that denied it and refines the very notion of the great American Hero."
—Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Booker Prize

"Rigorous and innovative. . . . Hallman successfully transforms Anarcha from historical object to subject, and shines a light on the contentious rise of medical ethics in the 19th century. It’s a must-read."
—Publishers Weekly

"A staggeringly researched book that serves as an indictment of Sims' hubris and an homage to Anarcha."
—Kirkus Reviews