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ABSTRACT
Louis Tompkins Wright, the son of a man barn into slavery, was an outstanding African American surgeon who devoted his life to the racial integration of health care in the United States.
Despite the fact that both his father and stepfather were physicians, despite his innate intellectual gifts and disciplined character, Wright experienced discrimination throughout his life and career. This experience led him to fight for the rights of African Americans, both health care professionals and patients.
In addition to making numerous contributions in the fields of surgery and infectious disease, Wright held leadership positions in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for more than 24 years, leaving a legacy of equity for African Americans in medical education and in health care. (Am J Public Health. 2000;94:883-892)
In 1937, at the age of 46, Dr Louis Tompkins Wright addressed the 28th convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), speaking as chairman of the Board of Directors:
There is no use saving the Negro from being lynched, or educating for sound citizenship if he is to die prematurely as a result of murderous neglect by America's health agencies solely on account of his race or color. Fundamentally the NAACP stands for Negroes receiving the identical health service which every other citizen of this nation enjoys. By that we mean the free, unrestricted, and identical use of every health agency afforded by municipal, state or federal government. . . .
We demand that every medical school in the country open its doors without segregation to qualified Negro students. . . . and that they be given every clinical privilege without any covert or subtle restriction. We demand their admission to every established hospital for . . . post-graduate training. We demand their appointment [to] the staffs of these institutions on the basis of merit; and we will fight every . . . device which deprives them of these opportunities because of color.nk
Dr Wright, an African American surgeon, devoted his life to the racial integration of health care in order to provide full access of opportunity to Black patients, physicians, and nurses. His quest for equity was shaped by his heritage, his personal experience with discrimination,...