Many histories have been written about medical care during the American Civil War, but the participation and contributions of African Americans as nurses, surgeons and hospital workers has often been overlooked. Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine looks at the men and women who served as surgeons and nurses and how their service as medical providers challenged the prescribed notions of race and gender pushing the boundaries of the role of African Americans in America. Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries is currently traveling around the United States.
For the past year a team of Indiana State University departments and community organizations have been working to bring this national exhibit and some accompanying programs to Terre Haute.
Beginning August 27 – October 6 this display will be held in the Cunningham Memorial Library on the campus of ISU, one of only two locations in the state to host in 2012.
Also included as part of the display are several artifacts from the archives of the Vigo County Historical Society and the Sisters of Providence. We have discovered a local connection through Rev. Dr. Willis Revels, who served as a physician during the Civil War and was brother to Rev. Hiram Revels, one of the pastors of Allen Chapel AME Church in Terre Haute, founder of the first school for African-American children in the Wabash Valley, and later first African-American Senator to the US Congress.
Some of the many programs include:
September 6 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Battlefield Medicine of the Civil War
September 11 3:00 – 5:00 pm
African Americans in Indiana During the Civil War
September 19 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Fashions of the Civil War Era
September 19 1:30-3:00 pm
Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation*
September 25 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Walking the Wabash – Exploring Activities Related to the Underground Railroad in West Central Indiana*
October 2 7:00 – 8:30 pm
We Should Know Their Courage: Three Black Leaders
While the exhibit and programs are free and open to the public during the library’s normal operating hours, registration is requested for the programs, which (excluding those marked*) will be held in the ISU library. Full information on the program is available atwww.indstate.edu/olli
