History of Black Americans and Health Care in Massachusetts - 20th Century

20th Century

• The Problem of Race Betterment, by J. Ewing Mears, MD, LLD, a collection of speeches promoting eugenics, one of which was published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, October 21, 1909. The collection is available at https://archive.org/details/problemofracebet00mear.

• “Pioneering Black Physicians Paved Paths in Massachusetts.” Available at https://www.massmed.org/Publications/Vital-Signs---Member-Publication/Pioneering-Black-Physicians-Paved-Paths-in-Massachusetts/.

• “Medical History: The Flexner Report and Black Academic Medicine: An Assignment of Place.” by Susan Hunt, EdD, JAMA, vol 85, no. 2.

  Article describing how the Flexner Report led to the closing of most Black medical schools. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2571842/pdf/jnma00292-0091.pdf.

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  Solomon Carter Fuller, MD, graduated Boston University School of Medicine in 1897 and later joined the faculty there as a neuropathologist studying dementia. He was the country’s first Black psychiatrist.

  The information can be found on the “Focus on the Fullers” video at this link https://players.brightcove.net/6160584361001/experience_5f202c8510d231002298101e/share.html.

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  William Augustus Hinton, MD, was the first Black professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS). After graduating from HMS, he was refused internship positions due to his race. He directed the MA Department of Public Health (DPH) Wasserman lab, perfected serologic testing for syphilis, and was an active member of MMS.

  “Biographical Feature: William A. Hinton, MD.” Available at https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jcm.01933-20.

  “William A. Hinton (1883–1959): Diagnosing and Confronting Racism in the Medical Profession.” Available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40615-021-01102-8.

  “William A. Hinton, MD: Obscured in Life, Highly Revered in Death.” Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0h1tcqdxrk.

  The Public Health Museum has digitized the archival collection of Dr. William Augustus Hinton, and have made it accessible through the CatalogIt Hub page. Explore 285 different archival materials ranging from Wassermann Laboratory reports, correspondence between Dr. Hinton and various Sanatoriums, and even laboratory procedures and instructions. The collection is available at https://www.publichealthmuseum.org/collections.html.

  Dr. Hinton’s wife, Ada Hinton, was active on the Board of the Home for Aged Colored Women, now known as the Grimes King Foundation for the Elderly, Inc. More information is available at https://grimesking.org/history/.

  

  Dr. Hinton’s daughter, Jane Hinton, DVM, was one of the first two Black American women veterinarians in the nation. Information is available at https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jane-hinton-1919-2003/.

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  Cornelius Nathaniel Garland, MD, began practice in Boston in 1903 and founded Plymouth Hospital and Nurses’ Training School. Available at https://perspectivesofchange.hms.harvard.edu/node/11 http://gamma1916.com/2018/02/garland/.

  More current and additional information about Dr. Garland is available at https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/09/metro/when-your-apartment-is-history-lesson/ and https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2023/02/09/historic-boston-plymouth-hospital-cornelius-garland-lisa-gordon.

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  “She Knows the Drill: Boston’s First Female African American Dentist,” Jessie Gideon Garnet, MS. Additional information available at https://www.boston.gov/news/she-knows-drill-bostons-first-female-african-american-dentist.

  See a written interview by Lavert Stewart available at https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_91e6f63f-64d5-452a-a7a3-807d57689c3f/.

• Perspectives of Change: The story of civil rights, diversity, inclusion and access to education at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Available at https://perspectivesofchange.hms.harvard.edu.

• Nine Black American Doctors, by Robert C. Hayden and Jacqueline Harris, 1976, Addison-Wesley.

  Includes biographies of Fuller and Hinton. Hayden communicated directly with the subjects of the book or with people close to them. “This book is dedicated to all young people who aspire to careers in medicine.” Hayden’s own life and study of Black Americans in science, technology, and medicine is of interest. See: The History Makers, The Digital Repository for the Black Experience at the following link https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/robert-c-hayden-39.

• A Society of Physicians: An Account of the Activities of the Members of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 1923-1981, by Everett R. Spencer, Jr., Executive Secretary of the Society. Boston, MMS, 1981. 412 pages.

  Urban Eversole, MD, Chief of Anesthesiology at Lahey Clinic, led the Massachusetts delegation in successfully advocating for adoption of the resolution that finally ended racial discrimination in the American Medical Association in 1968. See p. 283 and ff. Available at https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Society_of_Physicians/v-R8tQAACAAJ?hl=en&kptab=getbook.

• The Physician in a Changing Social Structure, Annual Oration 1971. Earle M. Chapman, MD. Available at https://www.massmed.org/About/MMS-Leadership/History/The-Physician-in-a-Changing-Social-Structure/.

• Opinion: How tens of thousands of Black U.S. doctors simply vanished. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/22/uche-blackstock-legacy-black-doctors/

Additional pages:

• Overview

• Medical History Society Websites

• 18th Century

• 19th Century

• Contemporary — Early 21st Century