African American Hospitals in North Carolina

Untold thousands of black North Carolinians suffered or died during the Jim Crow era because they were denied admittance to white-only hospitals. With little money, scant opportunities for professional education and few white allies, African American physicians, nurses and other community leaders created their own hospitals, schools of nursing and public health outreach efforts. The author chronicles the important but largely unknown histories of more than 35 hospitals, the Leonard Medical School and 11 hospital-based schools of nursing established in North Carolina, and recounts the decades-long struggle for equal access to care and equal opportunities for African American health care professionals.

Phoebe Ann Pollitt has practiced nursing in Appalachia for over 30 years. She is an associate professor of nursing at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Her professional research interests are nursing history and health disparities.

Phoebe Ann Pollitt

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 212
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6724-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3084-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii

Part I: Historical Overview of Segregated Hospital Care in North Carolina 1
A Brief Review of the Professional Literature  3
A Brief History of Hospitals in North Carolina Through 1900  6
The Establishment of Early General Hospitals, 1876–1900  10
The Founding of African American Hospitals  10
Military and Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospitals  17
Nursing Education  18
Legal Segregation, Social Conditions and Medical Racism  20
20th-Century Statistics Documenting Health Disparities  23
Disparities in Hospital Beds by Race in the Mid–20th Century  24
The Duke Endowment  25
The Rosenwald Fund  26
The North Carolina Medical Care Commission  27
The Hospital Survey and Construction Act/Hill-Burton Act  29
Lawsuits to End Hospital Segregation  30
Conclusion  35

Part II: The Health Care Facilities 37
Raleigh, Wake County  37
Charlotte, Mecklenburg County  56
Southern Pines, Moore County  65
Durham, Durham County  70
Winston-Salem, Forsyth County  76
Wilson, Wilson County   86
Asheville, Buncombe County  92
Henderson, Vance County  101
Monroe, Union County  107
Greensboro, Guilford County  110
Oxford, Granville County  117
Smithfield, Johnston County  121
Gastonia, Gaston County  125
Wilmington, New Hanover County  128
Mount Olive, Wayne County  135
Greenville, Pitt County  136
Statesville, Iredell County  138
Laurinburg, Scotland County  140
New Bern, Craven County  142
Tarboro, Edgecombe County  147
Fayetteville, Cumberland County  150
Conclusion  154

Appendix I: Publicly Supported Specialty Hospitals for African Americans in North Carolina 159
Goldsboro, Wayne County  160
Sanatorium, Hoke County  164
Appendix II: Timeline of Significant Events Related to African American Hospitals in North Carolina, 1865–1965 169
Appendix III: 42 Public and Private African American Hospitals in North Carolina, 1880–1967 172
References 175
Index 195

• Winner, Historical Book Award—North Carolina Society of Historians
• “Vivid insight…fascinating”—The North Carolina Historical Review.