Category: Health Care

I am researching the struggle for equality in healthcare, a lesser-known dimension of the civil rights movement. Although the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to “separate but equal” in public schools in 1954, segregation persisted for years in medicine. However, by the mid-1960s, a combination of protests, federal legislation, and judicial rulings had significantly disrupted the Jim Crow practices that had long plagued hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics.¹

As I delve into this complex and multifaceted intersection of civil rights and medicine, one area I am concentrating on is the integration of Delaware nursing schools, a significant achievement for the civil rights movement. During the 1950s, nursing schools commonly practiced segregation, limiting opportunities to pursue careers in the caring professions and make meaningful contributions to their communities.

Delaware Schools

In 1950, Delaware had seven nursing schools--four in Wilmington, one in New Castle County, and two downstate. These programs excluded Blacks leading to a severe shortage of professional African American nurses in the state.²

The National League of Nursing Education produced this 1950 list:

• Delaware State, Farnhurst, established in 1929, 13 students
• Beebe, Lewes, 1921, 10 students;
• Milford Memorial, 1926, 21 students;
• Delaware, Wilmington, 1897, 160 students;
• Memorial, Wilmington, 1888, 92 students;
• St. Francis, Wilmington, 1924, 66 students;
• Wilmington General, Wilmington, 1910, 50 Students

To gain insight into nursing schools in the City, I am examining records of three Wilmington hospitals. The materials archived at the Lewis B. Flinn Medical Library at Christiana Care offer valuable insight into the policies, practices, and enrollment of these institutions during the mid-20th century.

In 1954, a significant civil rights healthcare milestone occurred in Delaware. Late that year, Wilmington Memorial Hospital Superintendent, Grace L. Little, announced a groundbreaking decision to open admission to the school for qualified candidates regardless of race. This decision marked a significant turning point in the fight for integrated medical education in Delaware, overturning in one institution the discriminatory policies that had long excluded Black students from the program.³

In the fall of 1955, when a new class began at Memorial Hospital, two African American students, Ive Brown of Felton and Carrie Thomas of Chester, PA, proudly stood alongside their classmates for the annual “probie” photo.^4,5

A Civil Rights Healthcare Milestone

For the first time, African American students were admitted to a registered nurses training program in Delaware. When the hospital held its 65th graduation in 1958, Carrie Thomas and fifteen other young women had completed the course of study for registered nurses. Ive Brown graduated from a one-year practical nursing course at Brown Vocational High School.⁶.

This milestone, a significant step forward in the struggle for equality in healthcare, contributed to Delaware’s civil rights movement. My work on other dimensions of the civil rights struggle in medicine continues in Delaware.

For additional photos on integrating nursing schools in Delaware, see this album on Facebook.

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama, “Hill-Burton Act“[↩]
2. National League of Nursing Education, “State-Approved Schools of Nursing: Schools Meeting Minimum Requirements Set by Law and Board Rules in the Various States and Territories, (New York), 1950[↩]
3. Hospital to Accept Nursing Students Regardless of Race,” Morning News, December 7, 1954[↩]
4. “32 Student Nurses Start Memorial Class, Journal-Every Evening, September 7, 1955[↩]
5. “Probie Class Photo,” 1958, Wilmington Memorial Hospital[↩]
6. “15 Graduate at Memorial,” Morning News, September 4, 1958[↩]
7. Memorial Hospital, Probies-Class of 1958, photograph (Wilmington, DE, 1955), Lewis B. FlInn Medical Library, Christiana Care, Newark, DE.[↩]

For years, I have studied African American health care, seeking to understand the history of practices before Black Americans gained access to mainstream medicine. This fieldwork has given me the opportunity to interview nurses, aides, physicians, and tradition bearers in communities across Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. 

So when the Association for the Study of African American Life and History selected “Black Health and Wellness” as its 2022 theme, a couple of organizations asked me to discuss the contributions of two medical pioneers in Maryland. 

Dr. Stansbury in Havre de Grace

In the 20th century, African American physicians established practices in more communities. In Harford County, Dr. George T. Stansbury opened his office in Havre de Grace in 1950. But the Howard University College of Medicine graduate could not admit patients to Harford Memorial Hospital, which maintained a segregated ward.

In 1960, a tragedy occurred at the hospital when the staff initially denied a young Black woman full access to all the labor and delivery facilities after medical complications developed. Dr. Stansbury spent the night with the patient, doing what he could to save the newborn and mother. But, both passed away. The father sued, and in 1963, the hospital agreed to integrate.

The Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center honored Dr. George T. Stansbury with several activities, including a documentary. For the film, I discussed Dr. Stansbury’s role in the incident.

Dr. James Johnson in Elkton

For the Cecil County Chapter of the NAACP, I talked about Dr. James L. Johnson. The graduate of Meharry Medical College, a Freedmen’s Bureau-era School in Nashville, TN, came to Elkton to open his office in 1934. When Dr. Johnson started practicing medicine in the middle of the Great Depression, the county’s health care system was segregated, like every other aspect of life in Cecil County. To admit patients to Union Hospital, Doctor Johnson made arrangements with one of the community’s white physicians.

The segregated system for patient care remained in place until landmark civil rights decisions in the 1960s forced changes. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, hospital desegregation rulings in the federal courts, the passage of Medicare and Medicaid, and other initiatives created a Civil Rights era in health care. Consequently, the separate wards system ended in Elkton as Doctor Johnson received full staff privileges. The respected physician maintained a busy practice until the 1970s.

It is important to remember those who paved the way for the current generation and the difficulties they faced.