Segregated Doctoring: Black Physicians in Augusta, Georgia, 1902-1952

Between 1902 and 1952, Augusta, Georgia, attracted thirty-four black physicians. The earliest African American physicians began arriving in Augusta in the mid-1880s, when race relations were still evolving from the Reconstruction era. At that time, they were accorded privileges at the city’s black public hospital. By 1902, racial attitudes had solidified, and black physicians were excluded from the African American hospital, a decision that endured for almost half a century. Legalized segregation forged an inextricable link between medical care and racial discrimination and provided the social context for African American exploitation. Not only were black physicians denied access to public hospitals, but they had limited opportunities for continuing education and were excluded from the corridors of power within the medical profession. They faced skeptics on both sides of the color line, albeit for different reasons, while competing with white physicians to provide medical care for the black community. They held the highest status in the black community and played a vital role in the community’s response to segregation through racial solidarity and institutional development. Segregated Doctoring analyzes the structure of African American medical practice in the context of segregation and its accompanying inequities. It serves as an important corrective to the neglected story of black Augusta physicians and is an important addition to available scholarly literature that explores the city’s rich medical history.