Root and Branch: The Search for Healing Among African Americans

This presentation will cover the history of discrimination in medical access and treatment and how this exclusion led to a number of nontraditional treatments and cures, some of which are still believed to be effective today. The historical introduction should give context to some of the treatments discussed and provide for an understanding regarding distrust of contemporary medicine and the persistence of nontraditional cures today. Dr. Anderson (Ph.D. Missouri) teaches courses in American government, political theory and African American politics. Professor Anderson focuses his research on American and African American Political Thought, seeking to understand the tensions between individual liberty, collective good and American political values. His first book Agitations: Ideologies and Strategies in African American Politics (University of Arkansas Press 2010), explores this theme within African American politics. His second book is a co-authored work, State Voting Laws in America: Historical Statutes and Their Modern Implications (Palgrave Pivot 2015) with Professors Michael A. Smith of Emporia State University and Chapman Rackaway of the University of West Georgia. This book explores the history and evolving politics surrounding the right to vote in American politics. Professor Anderson has also published book chapters on media and politics and written a book chapter on working in the 1992 Presidential campaign.https://thekeep.eiu.edu/lib_exhibits_health_reform_video/1006/thumbnail.jp