Fueled by a History of Mistreatment, Black Americans Distrust the New COVID-19 Vaccines

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, the president of the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC), and his wife, Jacqueline, want to change attitudes about the vaccine in the Black community—and save lives. The Hrabowskis, who are Black, participated in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the Moderna Vaccine, conducted by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “I am from Alabama,” says Hrabowski. “All my life, I knew about what was done to Black men and how they were abused, and the awful tragedy of the Tuskegee experiment. So, I can understand people questioning the motives of people when they talk about the study.”

 Historical mistreatment of African Americans at the root of vaccine hesitancy

As the nation works toward vaccinating a majority of Americans to limit the spread of COVID-19, physicians must recognize and understand the impact that years of mistrust by African Americans toward the medical community is having on this effort.

 The Color of Pain: Blacks and the U.S. Health Care System – Can the Affordable Care Act Help to Heal a History of Injustice? Part I

Discrimination in its various forms has contributed to the exclusion of blacks and other people of color from the field of medicine both as health care providers and as patients in the United States.

 The Color of Pain: Blacks and the U.S. Health Care System—Can the Affordable Care Act Help to Heal a History of Injustice? Part II

As evidenced by its length and complexity, the ACA is one of the most sophisticated and strategic reform laws, and it extends well beyond health care. It not only seeks to ensure health access for all Americans, but it also seeks to right many wrongs that have existed within the health care system.

 Understanding and Ameliorating Medical Mistrust Among Black Americans

The medical establishment has a long history of mistreating Black Americans — from gruesome experiments on enslaved people to the forced sterilizations of Black women and the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study that withheld treatment from hundreds of Black men for decades to let doctors track the course of the disease. So it’s not surprising that just 42 percent of Black Americans said in November they’d be willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

 Why We Need More Black Doctors—and How to Get There

Valerie Montgomery Rice, head of Morehouse School of Medicine, on training the next generation of physicians, and how to bring more Black men into the field.

Black History Public Health

The discipline of public health lies at the intersection of science and social justice. Its goal is to promote health and prevent disease through education, research, and advocacy. Throughout history, Black Americans have made invaluable contributions to the field. Tragically, many of their accomplishments failed to be recognized. The list below is by no means exhaustive; however, it highlights contributions that have been made against tremendous odds. In spite of being denied access to the very systems and institutions they helped to improve; the Black Americans below contributed significantly to the advancement of public health science.

African-American Trailblazers in Medicine & Medical Research

The contributions of African-American physicians, nurses and research scientists to the advancement of medical care must never be taken for granted. There is no way to know how many human lives have been saved or improved through the efforts of these medical trailblazers, who not only shouldered the immense responsibility of learning, but also had to overcome societal prejudice.

America’s First Black Physician Sought to Heal a Nation’s Persistent Illness

An activist, writer, doctor and intellectual, James McCune Smith, born enslaved, directed his talents to the eradication of slavery.

Bad Medicine: The Harm That Comes From Racism

Racial discrimination has shaped so many American institutions that perhaps it should be no surprise that health care is among them. Put simply, people of color receive less care — and often worse care — than white Americans. Reasons includes lower rates of health coverage; communication barriers; and racial stereotyping based on false beliefs. Predictably, their health outcomes are worse than those of whites.

Black Americans see a health-care system infected by racism, new poll shows

African Americans have a dim view of the nation’s health care system, which they see as infected by the same racism they encounter on the job, out shopping, in the classroom or interacting with the police.

Black History Month honors medical pioneers...

African-Americans have made great contributors to today’s medical industry including the first open-heart surgery and the first successful pacemaker. Other trailblazers have used their research to better understand current health issues including blindness and Alzheimer’s disease.

Black History Month: A Medical Perspective: Chronology of Achievements

Exhibited February-March 1999 and February-March 2006.

Celebrating 10 African-American medical pioneers

These trailblazers broke barriers and shattered stereotypes — and went on to conduct research, discover treatments, and provide leadership that improved the health of millions.

Henrietta Lacks settlement hailed by experts as step toward correcting medicine’s racist history

The story of Lacks, a Black woman whose cells have contributed to scientific breakthroughs ranging from the development of polio and cancer treatments to the mapping of the human genome, is one of the best-known tales of the exploitation of marginalized groups in the name of medical progress.

History of Minorities in Medicine

History is recorded by those who have been in power; because of this, it should not be surprising that few data exist on the engagement of significant minorities in the medical field.

How the Public Learned About the Infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study

By the time the bombshell report came out, seven men involved had died of syphilis and more than 150 of heart failure that may or may not have been linked to syphilis. Seventy-four participants were still alive, but the government health officials who started the study had already retired.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler, A Medical Milestone

Because medical practitioners focus more on their patients than any notoriety, historical figures in medicine are often rendered obscure. Such is the case of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African American woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S.

Recognizing history of Black nurses a first step to addressing racism and discrimination in nursing

Nursing, as a profession, was established on Victorian ideals of “true womanhood”, including notions of dignity, purity, morality and virtue. Think: white caps and pristine white smocks. Historically, people who did not meet these “ideals” were prevented from practising nursing. It was believed that Black women did not possess these ideals of “true womanhood” and in turn, were prevented from pursuing nursing as a career. Many of these unconscious biases and stereotypes about nursing are still believed today, with evidence showing that the exclusion of Black folks and anti-Black practices persist in nursing.

The Disturbing History of African-Americans and Medical Research Goes Beyond Henrietta Lacks

“Tuskegee shouldn’t be the first thing people think of,” Harriet A. Washington, the author of Medical Apartheid, tells TIME. “It’s the example that the government has admitted to and acknowledged. It’s so famous that people think it was the worst, but it was relatively mild compared to other stuff.”

The history of African Americans and organized medicine

Segregation and racism within the medical profession have, and continue to, profoundly impact the African American community. Yet, the complex history of race in the medical profession is rarely acknowledged and often misunderstood.

The Struggle and Triumph of America's First Black Doctors

African American physicians have dealt with distrust and misperceptions for more than a century.

Troubling History In Medical Research Still Fresh For Black Americans

A new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that about a third of African-Americans say they have experienced discrimination at a doctor's office or health clinic. The poll also found that 1 in 5 African-Americans avoids medical care because of concern about discrimination.