Deirdre Cooper Owens

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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.

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Biography

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] In 2024, she was a contributor to the volume Roe v. Wade: Fifty Years After, a volume on the United States abortion-rights movement. [6]

Cooper Owens is an advocate for reproductive justice, having worked with organizations in combating Black maternal mortality in the United States. [1] She also works as a public speaker. [7]

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Deirdre Cooper Owens". University of Connecticut Department of History. August 9, 2023. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Cooper Owens, Deirdre. "Bio". Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Medical Bondage". University of Georgia Press. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  4. 1 2 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. 1 2 "Roe v. Wade: Fifty Years After | Department of History". history.princeton.edu. August 15, 2024. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Bio". Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ 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.
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