Daniel Hale Williams
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| Daniel Hale Williams | |
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| Born | 18 January 1858 Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | 4 August 1931 (aged 73) Idlewild, Michigan, USA |
| Fields | Cardiology |
| Institutions | Provident Hospital Meharry Medical College Freedman's Hospital St. Lukes Hospital Cook County Hospital |
| Alma mater | Chicago Medical College |
Daniel Hale Williams (18 January 1856 – 4 August 1931) was an American surgeon. He was the first African-American cardiologist, and is sometimes attributed with performing the first successful surgery on the heart. He also founded Provident Hospital, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States.[1][2]
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[edit] Career
Williams is sometimes regarded as the first man to have performed cardiac surgery, though earlier surgeries on the pericardium were performed by Francisco Romero in 1801, Dominique Jean Larrey prior to 1842, and by Henry Dalton in 1891. Also in 1891, he started the Provident Hospital and training school for nurses in Chicago Illinois. This was established mostly for African-American citizens.[3] In 1893 he repaired the torn pericardium of knife wound patient, James Cornish, the second on record.[4] He performed this surgery at Provident Hospital, Chicago, on 10 July 1893, a hospital which he founded, and one of the few hospitals that welcomed African Americans.[5] About fifty-five days later, James Cornish recovered the surgery successfully.[3]
In 1893, during the administration of President Grover Cleveland, Williams was appointed surgeon-in-chief of Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C., another of the few hospitals that would admit African Americans. In addition to organizing the hospital, Williams also established a training school for African-American nurses at the facility.
Williams was a teacher of Clinical Surgery at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and was an attending surgeon at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He worked hard to create more hospitals for African Americans. In 1895 he co-founded the National Medical Association for black doctors, and in 1913 he became a charter member and the only black in the American College of Surgeons.
[edit] Personal life
Daniel Hale Willams was born and raised in the city of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He lived with his father who was a "free negro" baraber, his mother and a few brothers and sisters. His family eventually moved to Annapolis, Maryland. Unfortunately, shortly after when Daniel was eleven, his father died.[6] Williams was married in 1898 to Alice Johnson, daughter of sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel and a maid of mixed ancestry.[7] Williams died of a stroke in Idlewild, Michigan in 1931. His Wife, Alice Johnson died in 1924.[3]
[edit] Legacy
Williams was honored, amongst others, for his achievements in the Stevie Wonder song "Black Man", from the album Songs in the Key of Life.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Daniel Hale Williams on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[8]
He received honorary degrees from Howard and Willberforce Universtities, was named a charter member of the Amercian College of surgeons and Was a member of the Chicago Surgical Society [6]
[edit] References
- ^ "Williams, Daniel Hale". Adoptions.com. 09 February 2007. http://famous.adoption.com/famous/williams-daniel-hale.html. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica (2008). "Reference Room: Daniel Hale Williams". African American World. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/daniel_hale_williams.html. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
- ^ a b c "Daniel Hale Williams". Black Inventor Online Museum. http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/danielwilliams.html. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ Shumacker, Harris B. (1992). The Evolution of Cardiac Surgery. Indiana University Press. p. 12. http://books.google.com/books?id=xtEIeqY8dn8C&pg=PA12&sig=sOHygc4IS04txYqsYvnKFNb9LE0. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
- ^ "History: Provident Hospital- The Provident Foundation". The Provident Foundation. 2008. http://www.providentfoundation.org/history/index.html. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- ^ a b Wichterman, Larry. "Daniel Hale Williams, First Open Heart Surgeon". Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. Geocities. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4547/williams.html. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ Washington, Booker Taliaferro; Harlan, Louis R. (ed.) (1907). The Booker T. Washington Papers. vol.9: 1906-1908 (The Open Book edition ed.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 396,. OCLC 58644475. http://www.historycooperative.org/btw/Vol.9/html/396.html.
- ^ Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
[edit] Further reading
- Yenser, Thomas (1933). Who's Who in Colored America: 1930-1931-1932. Brooklyn: T. Yenser. OCLC 26073112.
- Buckler, Helen (1968). Daniel Hale Williams: Negro Surgeon. New York: Pitman. OCLC 220544784.
