Ending "Whites-Only" Wards at Hopkins Hospital, circa 1957
Dr. Jeremy Greene and Dr. Ezelle Sanford III talked with WYPR's Tom Hall
The past is never dead. It’s not even past. — Dr. Jeremy Greene, quoting William Faulkner
Today, Johns Hopkins Hospital promotes itself as “diverse and inclusive” and lists among its values “Be Open. Embrace and value different backgrounds, opinions and experiences.” It was not always so. Last week, our colleagues Dr. Jeremy Greene and Dr. Ezelle Sanford, III, talked with WYPR’s Midday host Tom Hall about the role of race and racism at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Part of this story is better known. Segregated at its founding, Johns Hopkins Hospital not only required separate patient care, it exploited Black Americans in medical research and experimentation. But there is more. On-going study, Dr. Sanford explained, is discovering how white supremacy also shaped medical training and education at Johns Hopkins,
The discussion featured the recollections of the late-Dr. Richard Reynolds, a resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1957 during that year’s flu pandemic. In a recently published essay, Dr. Reynolds recalled playing a role in admitting Black patients to what was a whites-only ward. Still, Dr. Greene explained, while this was a notable moment, it would take many more years and many more “firsts” before Johns Hopkins Hospital was finally desegregated. One caller, who identified himself as a one-time member of the hospital’s medical staff, recalled whites-only wards still operating into the 1970s
Dr. Greene and Dr. Sanford agreed that racism in academic medicine remains understudied and not well understood. Even today, its costs include inequities in medical diagnoses and treatment and what Dr. Greene characterized as an earned distrust of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the very communities it serves.
We thank Dr. Greene and Dr. Sanford for their expertise and depth of commitment to the work of Hard Histories at Hopkins. You can hear more from them and other experts when they gather for a more indepth discussion about race and racism in academic medicine. Hosted by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Reckoning with Race and Racism in Academic Medicine, will convene on May 5 and 6, 2022. For more information and to register for the event, click here.
— MSJ