DETROIT 
MEDICAL
SOCIETY

The Detroit Medical Society, for over 100 years, has been the face of, and a major driving force in the progressive improvement in and advancement of Black Medicine and for healthcare in general in Detroit. For over a century, the Detroit Medical Society has continuously and successfully waged the scientific, medical, social, civic, economic, physical and spiritual battle for equal opportunity and access of people of color to all levels of healthcare. Organized Black Medicine in Detroit began in 1917 with advent of the Allied Medical Society, which was later renamed as the Detroit Medical Society. These organizations were the developmental first steps needed to build a group of over 19 Detroit Black Hospitals, which was made necessary due to the discrimination and segregation against Black people, and the exclusion of Black physicians and Black patients from the majority hospitals of that day. The Detroit Medical Society is, therefore, one of the oldest and most revered, most effective, and continuously active and serving Black Healthcare Organizations in America. Over its 105 – plus year history, the Detroit Medical Society and its Members have made many

notable contributions to healthcare and to society at large, including ---

* Providing high quality health services to Black, underserved and the general population for over 100 years;

* Built over 19 Detroit Black owned and controlled hospitals, (beginning with the Dunbar Hospital) which facilities operated from 1918 to 1993;

* The Black Detroit hospitals provided needed inpatient care, and otherwise unavailable training for Black physicians and nurses in the early to mid-years of the 20th century;

* Fought and successfully integrated Detroit hospitals, hospital patient admissions and hospital medical staffs in the 1950’s and - 60’s;

* Played a vital role, along with the National Medical Association, in the passage of the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Acts in 1965;

* Inspired, co-founded, funded and helped create the Annual Detroit NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner, the largest sit-down dinner in America, serving an estimated 10,000 persons at one time, and presenting notable political, religious, civic, celebrity and other outstanding and important figures to the Detroit public; 

* Researched and proved diagnostic protocols and treatment for Sickle Cell Disease;

* Inspired, created and supported the development of the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the largest such institution in the World;

* Supported the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2010;

* And numerous other civic, social, scientific and medical accomplishments and successes

which have benefitted all the Citizens of Detroit, Michigan and America.

 

These and other accomplishments are well documented in Dr. Wrights book “the National Medical Association Demands Equal Opportunity: Nothing More: Nothing Less”; in the book “The Man and the Museum” by Dr. Roberta Hughes Wright; and in various on-line resources including “The Negro in Medicine in Detroit” and “The Detroit Medical Society in

Civic and Social Activities”.

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Today we see people of color in positions from Residents to Chief Residents, to Chiefs of Medical Staff, to Presidents of Hospitals, and Presidents and CEOs of entire Health Systems. And patients are admitted to hospitals on an equal basis as well. Today, the Detroit Medical Society is the major (if not the only) Black Detroit Health Organization that represents and advocates for the needs of the Black, underserved and general population, and for the over 1000-plus Black physicians in the Detroit Metropolitan area. Dr. Wright was correct when he wrote that Equal Opportunity would result in the amazing

progress we are witnessing in healthcare today. The full history of over 400 years of Black Medicine in America can be researched back to the Antebellum days, and through the creation of Black Colleges and Medical Schools in the 1860’s, and

through the Reconstruction and Segregation eras up to the 1950’s and -60’s, and through the modern post-segregation eras since the 1960’s. In each era, Equal Opportunity and Equal Access in all areas of American life have always been the goals and objectives of Black Medical and Civil Rights Pioneers. The Detroit Medical Society, for over 100 years since the early 1900’s, has been and is the 

“Champion of Equal Opportunity and Equal Access in Healthcare in Detroit”.