Anthony answers “Did anyone find the chapter about the...”

Elizabeth Mcnair asked this question about The Underground Railroad:

Did anyone find the chapter about the grave robbers rather random? I have no idea why that was there. Did I miss something?

Anthony I found the focus not so much on the grave robbers themselves, but on how the medical profession was in dire straights to continue their study of the …moreI found the focus not so much on the grave robbers themselves, but on how the medical profession was in dire straights to continue their study of the human body after death for future remedies in the name of science, and due to high costs and the lack of bodies gifted by the families for medical research resorted to the robbing of graves for the needed bodies. The driving and somewhat ironic issue was that in life the negroes who were killed or died more often were seen as less than human while alive , but in death became equal to that of whites in the eyes of the research community. (less)

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Ibby I agree. In fact, there was one passage from that section that was the first of many to strike me in the heart. "In death the negro became a human bei ...more
Jun 28, 2017 10:52AM · flag

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The Underground Railroad

by Colson Whitehead (Goodreads Author)

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