First African American To Perform Open Heart Surgery
Daniel Hale Williams was born on January 18, 1856, as a boy Williams learned early on the struggles a black man faced here in America. After his father died Williams was sent to Baltimore, Maryland with family friends where he later became a shoe makers apprentice, but he knew that wasn’t his calling. After searching to find himself, he followed in his fathers footsteps and took up barbering. Finally after becoming an apprentice with Dr. Henry Palmer; a well respected surgeon in the field, who assisted him in his education. And ultimately helped Williams complete his training at Chicago’s Medical College.
During the 1800’s Williams was faced with discrimination and racism. He knew in order for him and people like him to pursue their dreams as a doctor in America something had to be done. So he opened the first inner racial hospital on the south side of Chicago and taught anatomy. In 1893 Daniel Hale Williams was forced to assist a Black man by the name of James Cornish, who suffered from a stab wound to his chest. He completed the procedure without the benefit of a blood transfusion or modern surgical procedures Williams saturated the man’s wound and thus became the first African American to perform an open heart surgery.
February is dedicated as Black History Month. The fact that February is the shortest month of the year is just another reason for us to continue in the fight and make every month Black History Month. Because my mind is the pendulum that stands between the passions of my dreams and facts and any time I’m awake this duality of consciousness seems to always bring me back.
Article written by Maestro
Dedicated to Black History Month
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