E? h In P P h h h fie e P Er
Iii-
AFRIICAN AMtRlCAN RADIATIION ONCOLOGISTS
Carl M. Mansfield, M. D., ScD,
E? h In P P h h h fie e P Er
s recentl } r as ten years ago, few persons of colon— from an }. r of the mo ]- g titude of nonwhite ethnicio ' es that make up modern America— were admitted to white training programs in radiology. Of those rare individuals completing such programs, l ' ew went on to acceptance at major academic institutions or hospitals. The medical schools of Howard and Moharrv universities served
as the training institutions for the largest percentage offili ' ican American doctors. But there were noted exceptions. In the 1930s and 1940s Memorial Sloan- Kettering, the Universities of Chicago, Pennsylvania and Illinois, the Rush Medical Center, Temple University, and the Pennsylvania and Graduate Hospitals of Philadelphia were frequently listed by Afl ' ican American physicians as places where they had received specialty training. ltwas a challenge to find the stories of many of these individuals after their training, because African Americans in than }? states were not permitted to join most raciiologic societies. Even those who“ beat the system " to attend prestigious while training programs were denied the oppnrtunit } Jr to present
papers, publish findings, or hold national office,
Alto-r having I ' Eli ' ltwfl ' d a number of publications, I had the opporosnitv to read an unpublished paper by Dr. William E. Allen on the accomplish—
ments of African American radiologists, in which he stated that“ from the relatively scarce source of material available " he would“ attempt to provide some information on this overlooked and frequentl } r ignored segment of American
Rfldlfllflgf.“ l Dr, Allen’ s paper, titled
" History of Black Radiologg“ was written in the mid-1970s. He noted that " little is
Note: When askedto write a secbon on the history of‘ fiffican Americans in radiation oncology, Flineuv the tal would be difficult. In tact. at all the historically disenfranchised groups, African Americans have been the most thorougt excluded from all revels oi academic medicine. lwas folly aware that the American“ system " would not have facilitat ' ed accomplishments by African Americans and that there would have been little interred i ' i recording the accomplishments of the few that managed to treat such a system. Mindful of this problem of laclt of material, 1 met with members of the radiology section of the National Medical essooation at their I993 national meeting to ask whether a chapter should be written. Their response was a strong and membelming expression that their story should be toldI even if it tool: a great effort to produce a Few pagesl Their story is not just about accomplishments in the field of radiation oncology and radiology It is a story that is interwoven into the very fabric of this counters racial attitude.
The African Noerican story is about what happened to a race, what happened to a people. They believe that their confessional storv, regardless ot hornr abbreviated, illustrates their past treatment by the dominant medical culture and illuminates this culture ' s treatment of their race in getstal.
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