African American doctors have fought tirelessly against slavery, prejudice, and injustice, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of medicine in America. Their stories are filled with resilience, innovation, and a deep commitment to serving their communities. From pioneering medical schools to groundbreaking research, these individuals have shattered barriers and transformed healthcare for all.
Mural in Philadelphia honoring Black doctors.
Early Pioneers: Breaking the Color Barrier
James Durham was born into slavery in Philadelphia on May 1, 1762. Some of his enslavers happened to also be physicians, and Durham learned about medical practice. His last enslaver was Dr. Robert Dow, a physician in New Orleans who put Durham to work as his medical assistant. In 1783, 20-year-old Durham purchased his freedom and began practicing medicine in New Orleans where he earned financial success and professional distinction. His ability to read and write and his fluency in three languages-English, French, and Spanish-likely served him well as a community doctor.
In 1788, during a trip back to Philadelphia, Durham met Benjamin Rush, a prominent physician and statesman. In 1790, Rush presented Durham’s paper “An Account of the Putrid Sore Throat at New Orleans” to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
In 1801, the Spanish-run local government mandated all physicians practicing in the city had to have a medical degree, which Durham did not despite significant practical experience. Contemporary records mention a free Black man named “Derum,” whom local officials barred from medical practice save for treating throat ailments. A letter to Rush dated April 5, 1802, demonstrates Durham remained in New Orleans for at least another year, although it offers no insights whether he was still practicing medicine. Unfortunately, this letter is the last known correspondence between the two, and it is the last known record connected to Durham.
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James McCune Smith, MD, was a man of firsts. Smith used his writing talents to challenge shoddy science, including racist notions of African-Americans. Most notably, he debunked such theories in Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. Smith was a staunch abolitionist and friend of Frederick Douglass.
In 1864, after years as a nurse, Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman in the United States to receive an MD degree. She earned that distinction at the New England Female Medical College in Boston, Massachusetts - where she also was the institution’s only black graduate. After the Civil War, Crumpler moved to Richmond, Virginia, where she worked with other black doctors who were caring for formerly enslaved people in the Freedmen’s Bureau. While she faced sexism and other forms of harassment, Crumpler ultimately found the experience transformative. Crumpler also wrote A Book of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts.
Overcoming Discrimination in the 20th Century
Even as a renowned gastroenterologist, Leonidas Harris Berry, MD, faced racism in the workplace. Berry was the first black doctor on staff at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, in 1946, but he had to fight for an attending position there for years. In the 1950s, Berry chaired a Chicago commission that worked to make hospitals more inclusive for black physicians and to increase facilities in underserved parts of the city. He was active in a civil rights group called the United Front that provided protection, monetary support, and other assistance to black residents of Cairo, Illinois, who had been victims of racist attacks.
Known as the “father of blood banking,” Charles Richard Drew, MD, pioneered blood preservation techniques that led to thousands of lifesaving blood donations. Drew’s doctoral research explored best practices for banking and transfusions, and its insights helped him establish the first large-scale blood banks. Drew directed the Blood for Britain project, which shipped much-needed plasma to England during World War II. Drew then led the first American Red Cross Blood Bank and created mobile blood donation stations that are now known as bloodmobiles. Despite his renown for blood preservation, Drew’s true passion was surgery. He was appointed chairman of the department of surgery and chief of surgery at Freedmen’s Hospital (now known as Howard University Hospital) in Washington, D.C.
Marilyn Hughes Gaston, MD, admitted a baby with a swollen, infected hand while working as an intern at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1964. The baby suffered from sickle cell disease, which hadn’t occurred to Gaston until her supervisor suggested the possibility. Gaston quickly committed herself to learning more about it, and eventually became a leading researcher on the disease, which affects millions of people around the world. She became deputy branch chief of the Sickle Cell Disease Branch at the National Institutes of Health, and her groundbreaking 1986 study led to a national sickle cell disease screening program for newborns. In 1990, Gaston became the first black female physician to be appointed director of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Primary Health Care.
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Pioneering Institutions and Lasting Impact
Philadelphia played a significant role in the establishment of hospitals and training schools for African American medical professionals. Mercy-Douglass Hospital, formed by the merger of Frederick Douglass Hospital and Mercy Hospital, stands as a testament to the community's efforts to overcome discrimination in healthcare.
Frederick Douglass Hospital and Nurse Training School, the first African American hospital in Philadelphia, was founded by Dr. Nathan Mossell in 1895.
Mercy Hospital and Nurse Training School was founded in 1907 by Dr. Eugene Hinson.
Louis Wade Sullivan, MD, grew up in the racially segregated rural South in the 1930s and was inspired by his doctor, Joseph Griffin. The only black student in his class at Boston University School of Medicine, he would later serve on the faculty from 1966 to 1975. In 1975, he became the founding dean of what became the Morehouse School of Medicine - the first predominantly black medical school opened in the United States in the 20th century. Sullivan has chaired numerous influential groups and institutions, from the President’s Advisory Council on Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the National Health Museum.
Interning in New York City in the 1960s sparked a revelation for Patricia Era Bath, MD. Bath, the first African-American to complete an ophthalmology residency, noticed that rates of blindness and visual impairment were much higher at the Harlem Hospital’s eye clinic, which served many black patients, than at the eye clinic at Columbia University, which mostly served whites. That observation spurred her to conduct a study that found twice the rate of blindness among African-Americans compared with whites. Throughout the rest of her career, Bath explored inequities in vision care. Bath blazed trails in other ways as well, co-founding the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in 1976, which supports programs that protect, preserve, and restore eyesight. She was the first woman to chair an ophthalmology department in the U.S. medical school, at the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine in 1983.
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When he left the HHS, Nickens moved to the AAMC, where he was the founding vice president of the AAMC Division of Community and Minority Programs, now known as Diversity Policy and Programs.
Alexa Irene Canady, MD, nearly dropped out of college due to a crisis of self-confidence but ultimately went on to achieve dramatic success in medicine. Canady worked for decades as a successful pediatric neurosurgeon and was ready to retire in Florida in 2001. But she donned her surgical scrubs once again to practice part time at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where there was a dearth of pediatric neurosurgery services. Canady has been lauded for her patient-centered approach to care, which she said was a boon to her career.
Regina Marcia Benjamin, MD, MBA, served as 18th U.S. Surgeon General, during which she served as first chair of the National Prevention Council. Long before she was appointed “the nation’s doctor” in 2009, Benjamin worked extensively with rural communities in the South. She is the founder and CEO of BayouClinic in Bayou La Batre, Louisiana, which provides clinical care, social services, and health education to residents of the small Gulf Coast town. Benjamin helped rebuild the clinic several more times, including after damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a fire in 2006.
Herbert W. Nickens, MD, set the foundation for promoting improved health among racial and ethnic minority populations across the country. “No one in recent memory did more than Herbert Nickens to bridge the painful and persistent diversity gap in medicine," said then-AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, MD, after Nickens’ death in 1999.
Mercy-Douglass Hospital: Preparing Philadelphia's Early Black Nurses
Timeline of Key Moments
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1762 | James Durham born into slavery in Philadelphia. |
| 1864 | Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive an MD degree in the U.S. |
| 1895 | Dr. Nathan Mossell founds Frederick Douglass Hospital and Nurse Training School. |
| 1907 | Dr. Eugene Hinson founds Mercy Hospital and Nurse Training School. |
| 1946 | Leonidas Harris Berry becomes the first black doctor on staff at Michael Reese Hospital. |
| 1975 | Louis Wade Sullivan becomes the founding dean of Morehouse School of Medicine. |
| 1983 | Patricia Era Bath becomes the first woman to chair an ophthalmology department in the U.S. |
| 2009 | Regina Marcia Benjamin appointed as 18th U.S. Surgeon General. |
Dr. Charles Drew, pioneer in blood preservation techniques.
