Spirometry is a test used in Pulmonology (the study of lungs) to determine how much air a person can inhale, and how much they can exhale (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). This test traces its roots back to the mid-19th century when the English Surgeon John Hutchinson conducted the first large-scale research study regarding its efficacy (Braun, 2021, p. 1671). After this study was published, an American plantation physician by the name of Samuel Cartwright conducted a study comparing the lung function of White participants and enslaved Black people, concluding that the 20% difference in lung functioning he found was a result of biological differences due to race. This historical idea survives to this day in modern medicine through the use of race based corrections for spirometry tests depending on if a patient identifies as either Black or Non-Black. Many other studies on the lung function of Black people have been performed since then, and reached similar conclusions. A study from 1922 firmly cemented the idea of race causing a difference in lung function, as one of its comparisons for spirometry scores was between Irish or Italian children and Colored (Black) children (Braun, 2021, p. 1672). The authors of the study ended up removing the data obtained from Black children when creating average scores for pulmonary function, further pushing the narrative that White people had normal functioning lungs compared to Black people. In the modern day, when a patient identifies as Black, the physician will reduce the original score by 10-15% to reach the final result (Vyas, Eisenstein, & Jones, 2020, p. 5). Spirometry is the cornerstone of pulmonary medicine, so its racialization means that every subsequent test of the lungs will be indirectly racialized as well.