Searching for Dr. Harris

“An engaging biography. . . . [A] must-read for physicians, historians, and the wider public alike. In uncovering the life of [Dr. J. D.] Harris, Humphreys makes a fascinating case for biography . . . [as] Harris’s life story reveals the limits and possibilities of focusing on representational politics in a country still suffering from structural and institutional racism.”—The Lancet

“Drawing on a vast archive of legal and probate records, government documents, hospital collections, and the records of nineteenth-century philanthropic and travel organizations, Humphreys expertly demonstrates how microhistories can illuminate the most consequential and fascinating episodes of our collective past. Searching for Dr. Harris offers a timely and essential contribution to the history of medicine, African American history, and southern history.”—Journal of Southern History

“Humphrey [illustrates] how Americans tried, failed, and sometimes succeeded in restoring health to a grievously damaged population of soldiers and civilians, Black and White. . . No brief review can do justice to a life so well lived nor to this skillful biography of it.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“A rich portrait of nineteenth-century America and the profound and ultimately unfulfilled changes ushered in by the Civil War and emancipation. . . . [A] useful resource for scholars of medicine, Black life and thought, and antebellum and postbellum political and social movements.”—American Historical Review

“Humphreys has written a superb biography that makes a substantive contribution to the literature on Black people in the nineteenth century. Dr. Harris’s compelling story should matter to contemporary audiences who are interested in the antecedents of American medical training and its exclusionary structures and practices that still persist.”—Claude Clegg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Searching for Dr. Harris is a complex and interesting analysis of Dr. Harris’s life and times. A masterful and thorough researcher, Margaret Humphreys offers readers a compelling and significant story that adds to our understanding of Black history in the American South.”—Todd Savitt, East Carolina University