PHILADELPHIA—World's Medical Centre

Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospitaland Training School

By ALFRED GORDON, M.D.

THE Frederick Douglass Me-morial Hospital, first of itskind established in Pennsyl-

vania, fighting an uphill battlefrom its humble start, has an envi-able record of service to its credit.Founded in 1895 by Dr. N. F.Mossell, in a modest three-storybuilding, located at 1512 LombardStreet, it has grown to a Class AHospital, so recognized by Na-tional, State and County medicalassociations, with buildings andequipment modern in every detailand with a money value of three

hundred thousand dollars ($300,-000.00). The attending and con-sulting staffs of the hospital arecomposed of the most prominentdoctors and surgeons in Philadel-phia.

The hospital is provided withfour public wards, a maternityward, an emergency ward, a num-ber of private and semi-privaterooms, two diet kitchens, wellplanned and always kept underexpert supervision. There areoperating and sterilizing roomsand a special X-ray room for diag-

nosis with modernly equippedpathological and histological labo-ratories. The institution has 75beds and at the completion of theNurses' Home, now in process ofconstruction, will add 25 beds,making it a hospital of 100-bedcapacity.

No one is ever turned away fromits doors because of creed or color,or because they are too poor topay. Of the 4,531 bed patientscared for during the past fiveyears, thirty percent (30%) were

Reprint from "Philadelphia--World's Medical Centre," authorized by Philadelphia County Medical Society.

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PHILADELPHIA—World's Medical Centre

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

unable to pay for either servicesor treatment. One hundred andfifty thousand (150,000) patientshave received treatment sinceDouglass Hospital first opened itsdoors. Ten thousand social serv-ice visits were made by the nursesand more than 125,000 personsvisited and examined, who re-quired emergency or clinical at-tention. The first bed, endowed ata cost of $7,000, was the gift of ahumble Negro citizen.

The hospital has graduated hun-dreds of nurses, many of whom areengaged as supervisors in otherhospitals and many others doingpublic health work in numerouscities. There are fifty-four Doug-lass Hospital ex-internes engagedin regular practice in the City ofPhiladelphia, while an equal num-ber are located in other cities, indifferent States, all of them doingfaithfully their daily work in re-lieving the sick, soothing thedying, helping the poor and pro-moting in general the moral andmaterial welfare of mankind.

Clinical demonstrations at theDouglass Hospital have proven themost valuable adjuncts in itshealth program. It maintainsclinics in general medicine,4 sur-gery, dentistry, obstetrics, gyne-cology, a chest clinic, an eye clinic,one for the ear, nose and throat,and one for the study of nervousdiseases. The work done in itschest clinic has been fundamentalto the health of the population.The Douglass Hospital was amongthe first to direct a city-wide educa-tional campaign showing the needfor early diagnosis of tuberculosis.Recently another forward step was

taken in the opening of a nightchest clinic where day workersmay secure attention in the even-ing hours. The chest clinics aresupported by the Department ofPublic Health of the City of Phila-delphia, and is in recognition ofthe potential work in combatingand preventing diseases, which hasfeatured the Douglass Hospitalfrom its incipiency.

These clinics and laboratorieshave been used to marked advan-tage by numerous visiting phy-sicians from rural districts in vari-ous parts of the country takingpost-graduate studies. This bringsus to record a disagreeable fact.The American hospital, with itsmany virtues, has not lived abovethe manifestation of racial exclu-siveness. It is not only quite diffi-cult for young colored physiciansto secure interneships, but marspracticing physicians find them-selves barred from numerous post-

graduate schools because of racialprejudice.

Doctor Mossell says: "With all,we wish it had not been necessaryto establish the Douglass Hospital.We deprecate the present trend inthe dominant public mind to cre-ate in many sections of the countryhospitals and medical schools, es-pecially for colored people—itmeans extravagance, inefficiency,duplications of effort, and is un-democratic in that it establishescaste. Because of the DouglassHospital's attitude in this matter,and because it has persistently re-fused to accept a subordinate man-

agement subject to a powerfulmedical institution, it has beenembarrassed financially; has con-tinued faith however in the finaltriumph of righteousness."

Nathan Francis Mossell, physi-cian, the founder of the FrederickDouglass Memorial Hospital, wasborn on July 27, 1856, at Hamil-ton, Canada, the son of a brickmanufacturer, Aaron Mossell, andof his wife, Eliza Bowers Mossell.His family environment was pecu-liarly one of charming mannersand large mental accomplishments.Reared in an abolition atmos-phere, hearing at his mother's kneethe recital of the story of runawayslaves, or men, women and chil-dren who were fleeing from theprison-house of bondage, eludingthe keen scent of the bloodhound,or dodging the more dangerouspursuit of the avaricious slave-hunter, his sympathies were nat-urally listed with the downtroddenand unfortunate.

The youth, having the strengthand activity of a great and originalgenius, was attracted to scientificcareer at an early age. At the ageof 20, young Mossell graduatedfrom Lincoln University, Pennsyl-vania, receiving the degree ofMaster of Arts. The following yearhe entered the medical departmentof the University of Pennsylvania,being the first Negro student to

NATHAN FRANCIS MOSSELL, M.D.

PHILADELPHIA—World's Medical Centre

enter and the first to graduatefrom this celebrated school oflearning. The city of Philadelphiaand its earlier history impressedhis youthful imagination. TheQuaker City had led off in thechallenge to African slavery. Justone year prior to the signing ofthe Declaration of IndependenceThomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine,Benjamin Rush and BenjaminFranklin had joined in a protestagainst slavery—had actually par-ticipated as organizers of the firstAbolition Society formed uponthis continent.

So, upon finishing his collegecourse, he opened an office at 924Lombard Street, at the center ofthe city's black belt. Shortly after-wards he was selected by the cele-brated surgeon, Dr. D. Hayes Ag-new, to be one of his assistants inthe Out-Patient Surgical Clinic inthe University Hospital, a positionwhich Mossell filled admirably forseveral years and which gave himhis inspiration and training in sur-gery. He was elected a member ofthe Philadelphia County MedicalSociety in 1888, being the firstphysician of color to receive thishonor; subsequently he wentabroad, taking post-graduate stud-ies at St. Thomas Hospital, Lon-don, England.

These became busy days in thelife of this young physician. Con-tacts widened. A serious, strong,steadfast, sincere man, living nearthe heart of realities—in a greatmetropolitan city, he attractedequally strong and courageous menand women. His office became acommon meeting ground—a sortof clearing house—where helpfulsouls drawn together in efforts tofind a solution for problems affect-ing the welfare of both races couldthink and plan. In addition to ad-vancing the domain of pure andapplied science, he took leader-ship in promoting the cumulativeachievement of his group in edu-cation, in industry, in art, in mu-sic and in literature. His searchfor better educational and indu4-trial opportunities for the youngbrought him face to face with theugly facts of racial exclusivenessand discrimination. Thus hefounded the Frederick Douglass

Memorial Hospital, as a protestagainst segregation of nurses andinternes, which was then the ruleand not the exception in the hos-pitals of this day. He dedicatedit as a monument to FrederickDouglass, the incorruptible leaderof his race, of whom TheodoreRoosevelt said: "Frederick Doug-lass never compromised a rightprinciple, nor truckled to the meanin high places." The DouglassHospital stands primarily for themanifestation of the FrederickDouglass spirit, and Nathan FrancisMossell is the incarnation of thatSpirit !

Rallying to his support weremany of Philadelphia's celebratedsurgeons and philanthropists, not-ably S. Weir Mitchell, D. HayesAgnew, W. W. Keen, CadwalladerBiddle, William Pepper, JosephLeidy, James Elverson, Edward M.Wistar, R. A. F. Penrose, JohnAshurst, James Tyson, Roland G.Curtin, Samuel B. Huey, TalcottWilliams, Caroline H. Pemberton,James Gay Gordon, Jacob C.White, Bishop Daniel A. Payne,Mrs. Catharine D. Wentz, Mrs.Mary A. Campbell, Mrs. Henry P.Bork, Levi Cromwell, Miss MaryConverse, Mrs. Emily C. Jacobs,Miss Mary A. Dobbins, Miss Han-nah P. Fox, Edwin H. Vare, Char-les J. Harrah, Miss Mary A.Burnham, Bishop L. J. Coppin,Thaddeus M. Daly, John H. Con-verse, Misses Harriet and AnnaBlanchard, A. K. McClure, J.Campbell Harris, Mayer Sulzber-ger, Joshua L. Bailey, Justice C.Strawbridge and Mrs. John B.Taylor.

This formidable group becameimpressed with the sincerity oftheir struggling protege. Theyrecognized in him, one of thosecharacters who live for tomorrow,a reformer, who doggedly advo-cates and carry out new ideas, newthings, for which they themselvesget neither thanks nor profit. Inthe formation of the original con-sulting staff of the infant hospital,many of Philadelphia's most dis-tinguished physicians and surgeonswere listed and continued theirconnection during the remainderof their lives.

ROSTER

The following are the names ofthe Board of Managers and the At-tending and Consulting Staffs ofthe Frederick Douglass MemorialHospital:

Board of Managers: AugustusTrask Ashton, Jerome Baptiste,Rev. J. C. Beckett, Bishop J. S.Caldwell, John T. Gibson, Rev. W.F. Graham, Charles B. Hall,Bishop W. H. Heard, W. S.Hagans, Rev. W. E. Jones, Mrs.Mildred P. Lewis, John E. Mc-Cully, Dr. N. F. Mossell, Paul F.Keene, Arthur Lynch, E. Washing-ton Rhodes, Robert Savage, Mrs.Charlotte Smith, Rev. C. A. Tind-ley, Dr. A. E. West and CorneliusH. Garlick.

Attending Staff: Dr. J. Q. Mc-Dougald, Dr. Charles A. Lewis, Dr.T. L. Powell, Dr. K. L. Curd, Dr.M. T. Morris, Dr. D. L. Maddox,Dr. Bruce Fleming, Dr. J. T. Irish,Dr. L. F. Appleeman, Dr. A. E.West, Dr. John P. Turner, Dr. G. C.Brannon, Dr. G. H. King, Dr. J. G.Moore, Dr. DeHaven Hinkson, Dr.G. M. Dr. T. S. Burwell,Dr. P. J. Taylor, Dr. B. C. Truitt,Dr. J. S. Lennon, Dr. M. W. Scott,Dr. W. H. Barnes, Dr. N. S. Duff,Dr. C. A. Scott, Dr. R. P. Matthews,Dr. R. W. Henry, Dr. N. F. Mossell,Dr. S. E. Robertson, Dr. R. W.Bailey, Dr. W. L. Brown, Dr. T. W.Georges, Dr. W. B. Carter, Dr. P.M. Edwards, Dr. W. A. Forsythe,Dr. M. N. Pannell, Dr. L. A. Clark,Dr. Granville Clark, Dr. S. Hamill,Dr. W. F. Jerrick, Dr. J. W. Rob-erts, Dr. J. W. Shirley, Dr. S. G.Smith, Dr. D. C. Wilson, Dr. C. G.Wooding, Dr. Alfred Gordon, Dr.Wm. H. Rodgers, Dr. T. A. Wil-liams, Dr. Charles B. Howard, Dr.C. T. C. Nurse, Dr. Agnes P. BerryMonttier, Dr. James Padgett andDr. Virginia M. Alexander.

Dentists: G. A. Jenkins, D.D.S.;A. R. Thomas, D.D.S.; C. E. Allen,D.D.S.; S. Parks, D.D.S.; J. M.Mosby, D.D.S., and J. Max Bar.ber, D.D.S.

Consulting Staff: Dr. HowardF. Hansell, Dr. John B. Deaver,Dr. Chas. K. Mills, Dr. Edw. J.Klopp and Dr. John M. Fisher.