Author Diana Gabaldon published her first installment of the successful historical fiction series Outlander, on June 1, 1991. She has penned an additional seven novels with promises of two more to complete the series. The success of these novels led to the production of the award-winning Starz show, also named Outlander, in 2014. The series follows Claire Fraser, a WWII combat field surgeon, who mistakenly travels back in time to the Scottish Highlands in 1745, where she meets the dashing and seditious Jamie Fraser; a high ranking member of Clan Mackenzie and Clan Fraser, who helps protect her from corrupt British officers and her “dangerous” contemporary thinking. Outlander not only presents this emotional love story, but also presents it audience with Scottish history and other crisis of conscious that plagued the time period.
In the episode, “Do No Harm,” Claire and Jamie travel to his Aunt Jocasta’s North Carolina plantation for a visit. Jocasta suffers from glaucoma and has been rendered blind from the disease. Shortly after their arrival, Jocasta announces that she will be willing her property and estate to her nephew, Jamie. While they both agree that it was very generous on Jocasta’s part to leave them the plantation, Claire cannot accept owning slaves. Jamie is also extremely forward thinking, and having been a prisoner and a tortured slave, also conveys that he has no desire to “own any man.” Suddenly, a messenger appears with urgent news that one of Jocasta’s slaves has struck a white man. Claire and Jamie ride down to the lower part of the property to find that the superficially injured white man has impaled a young slave named Rufus in the abdomen with a meat hook and is suspending in over a tree branch. Claire’s disdain is very apparent as she orders the white man to lower Rufus and quickly takes him back to the mansion to operate, while simultaneously refusing to tend to the white man who just has a small cut on his ear and will make a full recovery. She successfully removed the hook from Rufus’ abdominal cavity but then an angry mob starts to gather outside of the home, insisting that if Rufus is not turned over to the group by midnight, they will enter the home, take Rufus, and burn Jocasta’s property to the ground. The mob is adamant that Rufus pay for his crimes by hanging. Jamie and Claire come to the realization that regardless of their feelings about the treatment of Rufus, that he is going to die. They decide instead of him suffering more than he already has, they will give him poison that will help him succumb peacefully into death. Claire administers the medicine telling Rufus it will help him sleep and the deed is done. Jamie takes the boy’s body to the mob to prove he has died, and they still tie his body and drag him behind wagons and lynch in him front of the property.
This episode conveys a very powerful message that we have explored in this class all semester. The discrimination and mistreatment of people of color and “the other,” is woven into the very fabric and foundation of our country and society.