People, Locations, Episodes

A Black Surgeon Performs The First Successful Open-Heart Surgery In America

On this date in 1893, the first successful American open-heart surgery was performed by a Black surgeon, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams.

Dr. Daniel Williams completed the operation on a young man named James Cornish. He had been rushed to Provident Hospital in Chicago–a hospital which Dr. Williams had founded and one of the few hospitals that welcomed African Americans–with a stab wound. Williams repaired the wound with the use of sutures.

Sometimes open-heart surgery is referred to as an invasive procedure

Provident Hospital, Baltimore Opens

*On this date in 1894, Provident Hospital opened in northwest Baltimore, Maryland.  They started as a 10-bed clinic in a private residence at 419 Orchard St to provide medical treatment and training for Black nurses and doctors. An all-Black medical facility was in need in the late nineteenth and twentieth century due to Blacks not being allowed […]

Lloyd A. Hall, Chemist born

On this date in 1894, Lloyd Hall was born. He was an African American chemist.

Lloyd August Hall Lloyd Hall was born in Elgin, IL. His father was a Baptist minister, and his grandfather was one of the first Black preachers at the church where his father was minister.

Willis Cummings, Dentist born

*Willis Cummings was born on this date in 1894. He was an African American Dentist.

Douglass Memorial Hospital, (Philadelphia) is Founded

On this date in 1895, The Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School was founded in Philadelphia by Dr. Nathan F. Mossell, a black doctor.

The National Negro Medical Association is Founded

On this date in 1895, National Negro Medical Association (NNMA) was founded. Consisting of three major Black medical professions, they were originally called the National Negro Medical Association of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists.

Francis C. Sumner, Psychologist born

*Francis Sumner was born on this date in1895. He was an African American educator and psychologist. Francis Cecil Sumner was from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the son of David and Lillian Sumner with one brother named Eugene. As a child, he was educated in the elementary school systems in Norfolk, Virginia, and Plainfield, New Jersey. After elementary school, he was self-educated with the help of his parents. Sumner’s early education consisted of reading and writing assignments given to him by his father, who too had been self-educated.

Marguerite Thomas Williams, Geologist born

*Marguerite Thomas Williams was born on this date in 1895.  She was a Black geologist.  From Washington, D.C., Marguerite Thomas was the sixth of six children born to Henry C. and Clara E. Thomas. She attended Washington Normal School #2, later known as the Normal School for Colored Girls (and then accredited by Congress as […]

Inez Beverly Prosser, Educator and Psychologist born.

*Inez Beverly Prosser was born on this date in 1895. She was a Black teacher and school administrator and one of the first Black women to receive a Ph.D. in psychology in America. She was born to Samuel Andrew and Veola Hamilton Beverly in Yoakum or San Marcos, Texas, a small town between Austin and […]

The Flint Medical College (Louisiana) Opens

*The Flint-Goodridge Hospital is celebrated on this date in 1896. For almost a century, this hospital served predominantly Black patients and, for most of these years, was owned and operated by Dillard University. The hospital’s history can be traced to the Phyllis Wheatley Sanitarium and Training School for Negro Nurses, run by the Phyllis Wheatley Club. The […]

May Chinn, Physician born

On this date in 1896, May Chinn was born. She was an African American physician.

Alfred Waddell, Physician born

*Alfred Waddell was born on this date in 1896.  He was a Black physician and activist.  From Trinidad and Tobago, Alfred Ernest Waddell was the son of Son of Joseph Waddell, a headmaster, and Claudine Angus Waddell.  He had five brothers and sisters, Aucher Vere Waddell; Jessie Ethel Victoria Young; Charlotte Henrietta Habib; Josephine Editha […]

Ida Mae Hiram, Dentist, and Activist born

*The birth of Dr. Ida Mae Hiram is celebrated on this date in 1896. She was a Black dentist, activist, and administrator. Ida Mae Johnson was born to Fayette and Short Johnson in Athens, Georgia. Her father was a former slave who fled his bondage at a young age and established himself in Athens. At […]

St. Agnes Hospital, North Carolina Opens

On this date in 1896, the St. Agnes Hospital in Raleigh, NC, opened its doors, one of the first hospitals for Blacks in America.

Its beginnings were primitive, with a single cold water faucet in the kitchen and a wood stove to heat water and sterilize equipment. During its first six months of operation, the hospital cared for 17 inpatients and 35 outpatients. An additional 223 people received St. Agnes’s medical and nursing care in their homes. The first head nurse was Marie Louise Burgess, a black graduate of the New England Hospital for Women and Children.

Harlem Hospital (NYC) Opens

*Harlem Hospital opened on this date in 1897 in Harlem, NYC.  Now called Harlem Hospital Center and branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, it originated in a three-story building with 54 beds. The hospital originally served as a center for patients waiting to be transferred to Bellevue Hospital. Harlem Hospital was founded under the control of the Department […]