Joseph E. Holloway's work was eye-opening on so many levels.
For our assignment, we were given the prompt of vaccinations, and our group looked at Holloway's account of Africans and their contributions in this area.
Folk Medicine and the Root Doctor This section of Holloway's article explores the contributions of Africans to medical knowledge. What strikes me is the undeniable significance of these contributions. Until the moment I read this section, I had never heard of the many and specific ways in which Africans advanced medicine in the western world. Variolation for small pox in countries like Ghana and Gambia made inoculation a standard practice amongst its people. This technique is responsible for the development of the small pox vaccine and is the very foundation for our current understanding of the vaccination process.
Merriam Webster defines variolation as: the deliberate inoculation of an uninfected person with the smallpox virus (as by contact with pustular matter) that was widely practiced before the era of vaccination as prophylaxis against the severe form of smallpox
Akan women practiced vaccination techniques to protect their children from infectious matter, giving them a weakened version of a disease to provide resistance. Holloway highlighted these countries and regions, but I do not doubt that many effective medical practices were developed and applied throughout the continent.
Anthropologists and doctors of the time reported on these occurrences and in some cases credited the Africans with the knowledge and foresight to create such interventions. Holloway has done a great service in amplifying this history. The insights he has presented shed light on the many contributions of Africans that have been buried (intentionally in many cases) or flat out denied in a concerted effort to further marginalize and malign an entire race of people. It is only just now that I have been exposed to this information. I am grateful for this knowledge and I will happily to pass it on.
Thanks for your insightful post. African has given the world alot of knowledge. The sad reality as a society we aren't aware that are progression is a result of their influence.
It saddens me to know the contributions of Africans are widely erased or denied by Americans. So many foods, cultures, practices, and ways of life have been pillaged, abused, and appropriated by the hands or Americans and Europeans. The worse part is that it has not stopped. Henrietta Lacks is another example of white Americans abusing their power to steal from Africans/African Americans without consequence. It is disgusting.
I'm not surprised how Africans had an influence on medicine. Even till today there are many discoveries that have advanced medicine that many are trying to hide.