The Night Doctor of Richmond

by Tony Gentry

Who was the Night Doctor of Richmond? In 1994, during excavation for a new medical building in downtown Richmond, Virginia, work crews made a macabre discovery, an old well full of skeletons. As it turned out, these were the remains of bodies torn from Black cemeteries in the 19th Century and used as anatomical specimens by students at the Medical College of Virginia. While archeologists disinterred some of the bones for study, researchers at the college revealed the man responsible for many of the medical school's transgressions, an employee named Chris Baker, who had by his own admission robbed hundreds of graves during his career.

Baker was notorious in his time, featured regularly on the front pages of local newspapers, which called him a ghoul, a conjure man, a suspected murderer and even a cannibal. Reviled by the Black community, he was hounded, jailed, beaten and shot, finding shelter inside the basement of MCV’s old Egyptian Building, where he prepared and disposed of cadavers. To the medical community, however, Baker was a respected essential worker, his efforts key to the teaching of future doctors.

As he plied his macabre trade, Baker walked a tightrope along the fraught racial lines of his time. In this deeply researched and richly imagined biographical novel, enter the world of Chris Baker, the night doctor of Richmond.

Genres: Nonfiction

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 5, 2024

About the author

Tony Gentry is the author of a novel The Coal Tower, a story collection Last Rites, a poetry collection Yearnful Raves, a book of family history WWII Mortarman: My Father's Service with the 99th Chemical Mortar Battalion, and five young adult biographies (Paul Laurence Dunbar, Alice Walker, Jesse Owens, Dizzy Gillespie, and Elvis Presley).

Tony holds degrees from Harvard College (BA - History & Literature), New York University (MA - occupational therapy) and the University of Virginia (PhD - instructional technology).

Tony's occupational therapy career has focused on neuro-rehabilitation and assistive technology. He lives in Bon Air, Virginia and blogs at tonygentry.com.

Reviews

[Lynn Broaddus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not for everyone, but it definitely was for me. Gentry takes on the underbelly of the nineteenth century medical world, taking us through the journey of the "night doctor", the man who inherited the job of procuring cadavers for medical schools not only in his home city of Richmond, VA, but up and down the East Coast for nearly sixty years. It's a story of Black/White and slavery-to-emancipation, but mostly it's about the challenging life of someone who society depends on yet is so revulsed by that they will have nothing to do with. I also took away a better understanding of why some of our burial rituals are what they are. I've loaned or given this book to a number of friends and family members who have ties either to Richmond, or to medicine, or both. Most report to me being just as riveted as I was, grateful to have encountered this book. One or two reported being enthralled yet unable to hang in through the dark topic.

[Kenda Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting historical recap as well as a wonderful mix of imaginative details! Great Richmond deep dive! I loved how Tony gets you into the story and keeps you wanting to know more! Nicely done!

[Teri Spanswick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book. Crazy history - my heart goes out to Chris and his family - wow!

[Alison Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up about 20 minutes south of Richmond, worked in Shockoe Bottom for about a decade, and I never knew about Chris Baker. What a fascinating story!