People, Locations, Episodes

Provident Hospital (Chicago, Ill.) Opens

*On this date in 1891, Provident Hospital and Training School opened. This was the first Black controlled hospital in America, and it opened on the south side of Chicago.

Louis T. Wright, Surgeon, and Activist born

This date marks the day Louis Tompkins Wright was born in 1891. He was an African American surgeon and hospital administrator.

Annie Elizabeth Delany, Dentist born

*Annie Elizabeth Delany was born on this date in 1891.  She was a Black dentist and activist.  Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany was the third of ten children born to the Rev. Henry Beard Delany and Nanny Logan Delany, an educator. H.B. Delany was born into slavery in St. Mary’s, Georgia. Nanny Logan Delany was born […]

Raymond Cannon, Pharmacist and Lawyer born.

*Raymond Cannon was born on January 28, 1892. He was a Black pharmacist and lawyer. Raymond Winfield Cannon was from Northfield, Rice County, Minnesota. He was the youngest of three sons of Mack Oliver Cannon and Mattie Belle Boone. By 1900, the family lived in Minneapolis, where Cannon was a 1912 Minneapolis Central High School […]

The Sydenham Hospital Opens

*Sydenham Hospital is celebrated on this date in 1892. This private hospital was founded in a Harlem brownstone and served African primarily American patients.   Sydenham began as a healthcare facility in Harlem, located at 124 Street and Manhattan Avenue. Around 1924, the hospital moved to a new 200-bed building at the intersection of West 125 Street and Lenox […]

The Horseshoe is Patented by a Black Man

On this date in 1892, Oscar E. Brown, Buffalo, NY., invented the horseshoe.

This patent number is 481,271.

Thomas Parran Jr., Physician born

*Thomas Parran was born on this date in 1892.  He was a white-American physician and Public Health Service officer.   Thomas Parran Jr. was born and raised near St. Leonard, Maryland, on his family’s tobacco farm. A relative tutored him at home and attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, on a scholarship. Finances influenced […]

Alfred Xuma, Agronomist, and Activist born

*Alfred Xuma was born on March 8, 1893. He was a Black South African agronomist, activist, and doctor. Alfred Bahtini Xuma was from the Manzana, Ngcobo District, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Xuma was the seventh child of Abraham Mangali Xuma and Elizabeth Cupase Xuma, devout members of the Wesleyan Church. Xuma and […]

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

Charles S. Johnson, Sociologist born

This date marks the birth of Charles Spurgeon Johnson in 1893. He was an African American sociologist, and authority on race relations.

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 centuries due to Blacks not being allowed […]

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.