Celebrating Black Lives: Dr Daniel Hale Williams

To mark the Black History Month in the US, which has the theme of Black Health and Wellness, we celebrate Dr Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931).

“There is only one way you can succeed and that is to override the obstacles in your way by the power that is within you.”

Dr. Williams performed the first successful open heart surgery in 1893 and founded Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses (the first black-owned hospital in America) in 1891. From 1893-1898, he was Surgeon-in-Chief, Freedmen's Hospital, Washington, DC. He also founded the National Medical Association in 1895 (African Americans were denied membership in the American Medical Association). As a charter member of the American College of Surgeons in 1913, he was the first and only African American member for many years.

Text and image courtesy of Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives.

​​"Anything is possible when it's done in love and everything you can do should be done in love or it will fail."

“A people who don’t make provision for their own sick and suffering are not worthy of civilization.”

Each month we mark the significant life of a person of colour as a positive statement and a contribution to redressing historical imbalances in our society.