Deirdre Cooper Owens is an American historian and reproductive rights activist known for her 2017 book Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology. She is an associate professor at the University of Connecticut.

Biography

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Deirdre Cooper Owens was born to a National Archives and Records Administration employee father and a genealogist mother and raised in Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeastern Washington D.C.[1][2] Descending from South Carolina Lowcountry Gullahs on both her parents' sides,[1] she learned Gullah-language stories from her grandfather as a young child.[2]

Cooper Owens graduated from Bennett College, Clark Atlanta University, and University of California, Los Angeles, the latter where she obtained her PhD in history.[2] She later joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she was Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine and directed the Humanities In Medicine program.[3] She also directed the Library Company of Philadelphia's program in African-American history.[4] In 2023, she moved to the University of Connecticut's Department of History and the Africana Studies Institute and became an associate professor there.[4]

As an academic, Cooper Owens specializes in African-American history, particularly history of medicine.[1] In 2017, she published Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, a book on the exploitation of Black women in 19th-century gynecology;[3] she won the 2018 Darlene Clark Hine Award for said book.[5]

Cooper Owens is an advocate for reproductive justice, having worked with organizations in combating Black maternal mortality in the United States.[1]

Bibliography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Deirdre Cooper Owens". University of Connecticut Department of History. August 9, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Cooper Owens, Deirdre. "Bio". Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Medical Bondage". University of Georgia Press. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Borton, Heather (August 29, 2023). "CLAS Scholars Bring New Expertise to UConn". UConn Today. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  5. ^ "Darlene Clark Hine Award". Organization of American Historians. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  6. ^ Devine, Shauna (2019). "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology by Deirdre Cooper Owens (review)". The Journal of the Civil War Era. 9 (1): 143–146. doi:10.1353/cwe.2019.0017. ISSN 2159-9807 – via Project Muse.
  7. ^ Holmes, M. Morgan (January 2, 2019). "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology. 2017". Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy. 45 (1): 85–87. doi:10.1080/0092623X.2018.1563341. ISSN 0092-623X – via Taylor & Francis Online.