Black Medical History Resources

:: The Old North State Medical Society (Durham, NC)
The nation's oldest association of black physicians, the Society was founded in 1886 and has from that date until the present directed its energies to the objectives of equity in healthcare, equal opportunity for black professionals and equal care for black, other minorities, and very poor patients. Online exhibit at: Virtual Museum of African American Medical History in North Carolina

:: Black History Month: A Medical Perspective (Duke)
An online exhibition featuring sections on People, Medical Education, Hospitals, Folk Medicine, Chronology of Achievements, as well as a Selective Bibliography.

:: Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons (National Library of Medicine)
African Americans have always practiced medicine, whether as physicians, healers, midwives, or “root doctors.” The journey of the African American physician from pre-Civil War to modern day America has been a challenging one. Early black pioneer physicians not only became skilled practitioners, they became trailblazers and educators paving the way for future physicians, surgeons, and nurses, and opening doors to better health care for the African American community.

:: Journal of the National Medical Association (1909 to present)
In celebration of Black History Month, the National Library of Medicine has announced an important addition to PubMed Central (PMC), its free digital archive of full-text journal articles: the complete archive of the Journal of the National Medical Association (JNMA), which observes its centennial this year.

The National Medical Association (NMA), established in 1895, is the largest and oldest national organization representing African American physicians and allied health professionals in the United States. The JNMA was published quarterly from 1909 to 1938, bimonthly from 1940 to 1977, and monthly since 1978. The archive currently represents over 77,000 digitized pages of issues through 2007. More recent content will be coming at a later date.