Statues were erected to celebrate the accomplishments of 19th-century physician James Marion Sims, the so-called father of modern gynecology. Now there’s a play that gives voice to his victims.
Do No Harm, written by Soul Rep Theatre Co. co-founder Anyika McMillan-Herod, imagines the lives of three patients, Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy, mentioned in passing by Sims in his autobiography. They were among a dozen female slaves who were repeatedly cut into without anesthesia — Anarcha some 30 times — as he researched his theories and treatments.
The doctor became rich and famous for his advances, including the invention of the speculum medical tool. But little is known about what the women he experimented on thought about their circumstances and how they coped.