May be more appropriate for GQ, but since it’s book related I’ll post it here.
This is a bit embarassing for a librarian to post, but I’m trying to find a book and I can’t think of its title, author or the name of its subject. I’ve tried all manner of keyword searches but either get no results or 20,000, so I’m hoping somebody here has heard of it.
I read a biography a few years ago of a (real but not famous) doctor who performed abortions in Georgia and Florida in the early 20th century. He was African-American and as such was not allowed to treat white patients, but white people of all socioeconomic groups came to him from the tri-state area and wealthy patients came to him from all over the USA. Abortion was of course illegal, but he performed them in a clinic where all standards of sterility and hygiene and professionalism were observed and consequently he didn’t have the horror stories of his uneducated back-alley and bayou counterparts, which is why he was so popular and sought after. He never went to jail because his list of clients had far too many very prominent surnames and he became extremely wealthy, sharing his money with the community by building one of the finest black hospitals in the segregated south.
I can’t for the life of me remember the title, the author or the name of the doctor. Is anybody familiar with it?
Thanks
J
FOUND IT!
The book, in case anybody is interested, is Under the Knife: How a Wealthy Negro Surgeon Wielded Power in the Jim Crow South by Hugh Pearson. The book’s main focus is Dr. Griffin’s role as an abortionist and how he used it to blackmail and raise money for the betterment of his people (really interesting ethical discussions to be had there- he did something illegal that many would argue shouldn’t be in order to benefit his people and at the same time himself [he had a mansion and limo from his practice]- was he a good man or not? Discuss.)
Micro-rant: here’s what I hate about the LoC subject headings- this book is all about abortion. There’s hardly a page that doesn’t mention it. The way I finally found it was by entering the names of every south Georgia town I could think of and “abortionist” and “black hospital” and “blackmail” until finally a reference to it came up. I couldn’t find it using abortion or abortionist or anything like, because these are its LoC Sub. Headings:
Griffin, Joseph Howard, 1888-
Pearson family.
African American surgeons --Georgia --Bainbridge --Biography.
African Americans --Civil rights --Georgia --History --20th century.
Bainbridge (Ga.) --Race relations.
Bainbridge (Ga.) --Biography.
Georgia --Race relations.
Who the hell searches for “race relations” and Bainbridge (Ga.)?
I’d blame the cataloger before I’d blame LCSH. 
There’s no reason why a 650 _0 appropriate to the subject matter couldn’t be added.
If they want to list it as a secondary subject heading (650 20) so be it, but if it is an important subject of the book - shame on the cataloger.
Got access to its Marc record? Add a 650 20 Abortion $x History