African American Doctoring: A Snapshot in History

African American Medical Doctoring: A Snapshot in History provides some interesting information about the profession of the African American doctor's struggles and successes. There is information about the history of medicine - ancient, the beginnings of the practice in the United States. To address the many medical education issues, including educational standards for medical doctors, the American Medical Association (AMA) was established in 1847. Then, the United States was torn apart by the Civil War from April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865, with extensive health care issues requiring medical doctors. The United States formed the Freedmen's Bureau on March 3, 1865 to address the medical needs of the former slaves.Despite the good intentions of the Freedmen's Bureau, medical treatment of the freedmen was severely deficient. Most southern white doctors and nurses would not treat freedmen. By 1872, Congress abandoned the programs of the Bureau. Yet, African American Medical Doctoring: A Snapshot in History includes information about those African American Civil War physicians who practiced their profession in the Union Army; and later one of these military physicians would head a VA hospital.The medical school era began to flourish in the early 1900s, which included the establishment of at least 11 medical schools for AfricanAmericans between 1868 and 1904. The Johns Hopkins University School t Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland opened in 1893 and served as the standard barrier for medical education and as a medical research university. With medical school standards put in place, many sub-standard medial schools closed, including most of the African American medical schools, known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).By 1900, 2,500 students graduated from medical schools, with almost all of them white males. These developments to set standards for medical doctors' certifications (in addition to being the first of the professional professions to require licensing) were led by Abraham Flexner and Sir William Osler, which affected the medical schools in the United States and Canada. Information about the mentioned individuals is discussed in the book.Before concluding this study, there is a brief history about the HBCUs - yesterday and today; a brief discussion about the "Compromise" speech by Booker T. Washington at the Atlanta exposition and its influence on the socio-economic growth of African American physicians in the United States; information about African American collegiate and professional fraternity founders who were medical doctors; the pioneering physicians involved in the establishment of the National Medical Association (NMA).The study ends with an analysis of efforts to increase the number of African American medical doctors; and, makes several recommendations for ways to increase the number of African American medical doctors in proportion to the percentage of their population in the United States.