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Alto-r having I ' Eli ' ltwfl ' d a number of publications , I had the opporosnitv to read an unpublished paper by Dr .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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