NNMA Ohio Chapter, 1909
On this date, in 1895, National Negro Medical Association (NNMA) was founded. Consisting of three major Black medical professions, they were initially called the National Negro Medical Association of Physicians, Dentists, and Pharmacists.
Meharry Medical College and Howard University faculty and alumni were instrumental in their establishment. The NNMA comprised skilled organizations and a supportive social network for Black dentists. They were both involved in the initial inclusion of dentists in the National Negro Medical Association, various regional and state dental associations, and the later development of their professional association, the National Dental Association (not to be confused with the earlier National Dental Association, which would become the ADA.
They became the National Medical Association at the turn of the 20th century. The NMA’s manifesto was written by Charles Roman and adopted in 1908. It reads as follows: Conceived in no spirit of racial exclusiveness, fostering no ethnic antagonism, but born of the exigencies of the American environment, the National Medical Association has for its object the banding together for mutual cooperation and helpfulness, the men and women of African descent who are legally and honorably engaged in the practice of the cognate professions of medicine, surgery, pharmacy, and dentistry."
The NNMA, located in Washington, D.C., is still strong as an advocate of family consumer services.
