Honoring Black History in Medicine

Black Americans have been practicing medicine since before the Revolutionary War. And the path has always been challenging. This timeline highlights a brief sample of the enormous contributions that Black Americans have made to the medical profession. As far back as 1721, Onesimus, an enslaved African, described a smallpox inoculation and, in 1783, James Durham became the first Black American doctor. Yet it took until 2018 for the American Medical Association to elect its first Black female President psychiatrist Dr. Patrice Harris. To learn more of the history, pursue these resources.

• American Medical Association’s History of African Americans and Organized Medicine “Segregation and racism within the medical profession have, and continue to, profoundly impact the African American community. Yet, the complex history of race in the medical profession is rarely acknowledged and often misunderstood.”
  
  
• Biographies from the Association American Medical Colleges 10 African American Medical Pioneers “These trailblazers broke barriers and shattered stereotypes and went on to conduct research, discover treatments, and provide leadership that improved health of millions.”
  
  
• The Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics offers seminars for Black History Month on topics including:
  Towards Health Equity: Dismantling Racist Barriers for Black Healthcare Students.
  The Politics of Health Policy: Integrating Racial Justice into Health Care.
  Resilience, despite endemic racism, in the education of Black healthcare professionals.
  
  
• The Geisinger Library Collection holds the following related titles for you to borrow: