Lucy, Anarcha, Betsey

We only know the names of Lucy, Anarcha, and Betsey today from the notes of doctor J. Marion Sim, who published entitled, The Story of My Life, years after the treatments.  The three enslaved women lived in the Montgomery area during the antebellum period. In 1845, a neighbor begged Sims to work on the medical issue of one his slaves. Lucy had given birth two months prior but was in severe pain and unable to control her bladder, which made it difficult for her to complete the day-to-day task that her social condition demanded. It also prohibited her from bearing more children. At first, Sims was at first reluctant to take Lucy on but her master persisted.  Lucy’s status as a slave (and perhaps as a female) meant that others made decision about her body, and in this case her master was able to convince Sims to try even though the doctor made no promises.  Sims does no record Lucy’s intentions: whether she wished to have the operation was not relevant to the doctor entrusted to her care.  

The procedure required Lucy to be on all fours on top of a workbench, while Sims worked from behind her to repair the fistula. During the surgery, he wrote that her “agony was extreme.” After several attempts Lucy’s fistula finally closed. Anarcha and Betsey came weeks after for similar treatments, and Lucy who remained with the doctor for some months convalescing and helping him treat his new patients.

Sims went on to perfect his technique and teach it to other physicians.  He moved to New York City around 1850 where he practiced his innovative vesicovaginal fistula procedure on white women, many of whom were rich.  Unlike Lucy, however, these new patients had the benefit of ether and other forms of anesthesia.