Year: 1729
Who: Individual known as “Papan”
Where: Unkown City, Virginia
What: In the 18th century, smallpox and other diseases such as yaws and syphilis were pervasive threats to life, especially in colonies where medical knowledge was limited. Treatments often relied on rudimentary methods or indigenous and enslaved people's traditional remedies. Among those who contributed significantly to medical advancements of the time was Papan, an enslaved man in Virginia whose expertise in curing yaws and other venereal diseases earned him recognition and eventual freedom.
Papan was referred to as a "doctor" in the Virginia Council Journal of 1729. His remedies were deemed so valuable that the colonial assembly freed him on the condition he disclose his cures and remain under supervision to reveal any further medical secrets. His knowledge was considered vital enough for the governor to communicate it to England, suggesting it could inspire European physicians to explore the untapped medical discoveries in the colonies. Papan’s remedies likely derived from African or Afro-Caribbean healing traditions, which emphasized natural medicines, holistic treatment, and deep knowledge of plant-based remedies.
Once documented, Papan's cures became accessible through public records, allowing colonial physicians—typically white—to adopt them into their practices. These remedies, stripped of their cultural origins, were often repurposed to treat enslaved populations, perpetuating a system that exploited the expertise of enslaved healers while erasing their contributions.
Sources:
Books:
Savitt, T. L. (2002). Medicine and slavery: The diseases and health care of blacks in antebellum Virginia. University of Illinois Press.
Williams, R. A., & Williams, R. A. (2020). Profiles in courage: African American medical pioneers in the United States—The earliest black practitioners. In Blacks in Medicine: Clinical, Demographic, and Socioeconomic Correlations (pp. 33-59).
Websites:
Harbingers Magazine. (2023). Herbal insurgency: Wielding knowledge to heal and harm under southern enslavement. https://harbingersmagazine.com/articles/herbal-insurgency-wielding-knowledge-to-heal-and-harm-under-southern-enslavement/
National Geographic Society. (n.d.). African American inventors in the 18th century. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/african-american-inventors-18th-century/
Winfree, P. (1997). The material world of African Americans in the nineteenth century: Antebellum Virginia (Master’s thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/36885/CH1.PDF?sequence=2