Book Excerpt Of The Week: Part 2- "Medical Apartheid" By: Harriet A. Washington

“Within a century, reproductive coercion had taken a 180-degree turn for black women. During slavery, black women had been forced to procreate, but now they were being forced into sterility. The consistent factor was white control.

Women were also forced into sterility by governmental welfare programs...While a social worker in upstate New York during the 1980s, I learned from old case files that during the 1960s and 1970s, social workers conducted frequent late-night raids on the homes of aid recipients. If a man was discovered, the family’s aid could be cut off unless the woman agreed to sterilization.” -From, "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to The Present" By: Harriet A. Washington

[SIDEBAR: This book is a MUST read! Please go out and get it. It has superb information in it! It should be required reading in all educational institutions. *SIDEBAR UPDATE*: The only objection I have to this book is the epilogue. I disagree with a lot of conclusions drawn in that section of the book. I still appreciate how thoroughly researched and explained the rest of the book is though.]