Graduate Award Winner: Parker Dhillon
Lecture Title: Dust and Disease: Phosphate Mining, Racialized Labor, and Environmental Health in Post-Reconstruction Charleston

We are proud to recognize Parker Dhillon, a second-year medical student at the Medical University of South Carolina, as the recipient of the 2025 W. Curtis Worthington, Jr. Essay Contest Graduate Award for his paper "Dust and Disease: Phosphate Mining, Racialized Labor, and Environmental Health in Post-Reconstruction Charleston."

Dhillon’s research explores the South Carolina phosphate mining industry from the 1870s through the early twentieth century, analyzing how this vital sector of Charleston’s post-Reconstruction economy came at a devastating cost. His study reveals how African American laborers, central to the industry’s success, were subjected to coercive labor practices, hazardous working conditions, and long-term environmental health consequences. The paper sheds light on the racialized dynamics of industrial labor and the persistent effects of environmental injustice.

Though trained in the basic sciences, Dhillon developed a deep interest in medical history through coursework in literature and the humanities at the University of South Carolina. He is currently pursuing a career in neurosurgery with a focus on spinal pathology.

Join us on November 12th at 12:00 p.m. for the 2025 W. Curtis Worthington, Jr. Essay Contest Graduate Winner’s Presentation, hosted by the Student History Club. Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link attached.