The Notorious Dr. Flippin: Abortion and Consequence in the Early Twentieth Century

In 1910 a central Nebraska newspaper, the Aurora Sun, printed an editorial condemning a physician it dubbed “the notorious Dr. Flippin.” Dr. Charles Flippin’s reputation came under siege throughout the state as another newspaper editor alleged that the African American physician had committed “that most despicable of all crimes”—illegal abortion.For thirty years rural Kansans and Nebraskans had hailed Flippin as a godsend because of his skill as a physician and his willingness to help anyon...