History of african american doctors

Around , a young boy in Atlanta was stricken with a condition that cut off the circulation in his legs. His family feared it was life-threatening. His father, an African American minister named Briny Jordan, took him to the closest doctor he could find in the city.

African american health care history

The doctor was white, so Briny had reservations. But out of necessity, he went. Briny may not have been a learned man, but he was no dummy. He aimed to get a second opinion, and he knew just which doctor to call on: his brother. More than a century later, African American doctors still face barriers when it comes to educational opportunities and advancement in their careers.

In , they made up around 6 percent of practicing physicians in America—an increase of only a few percentage points since the middle of the 20th century. John Henry Jordan is my great-grandfather. He was regularly mistaken for a janitor and told where to empty the trash. In Atlanta, Briny grabbed his son, hitched up his mule and wagon, and rode 38 miles to Coweta County.