Good
Samaritan Hospital, Detroit, Michigan (1929-1966)
Founders:
Mrs. Bertha MacKenzie and Dr. Ossian Sweet
Locations:
503 E. Palmer, Detroit, Michigan (35 beds)
Howard University-trained nurse Bertha McKenzie and Dr. Ossian Sweet opened Good
Samaritan as a general and maternity hospital, increasing the medical resources for
African American physicians and patients in Detroit. Because of the racial
discrimination at facilities such as Herman Keifer Hospital, Good Samaritan was converted
to a tuberculosis hospital in 1936.
In 1945, after medical discoveries such as antibiotics began to successfully
combat the tuberculosis problem in Detroit, as well as the shortage of nurses caused by
WWII, Good Samaritan changed course again and became a convalescent hospital caring for
chronically ill and post-operative patients. The institution closed its doors in
1966 because of economic pressures.
Bethesda Hospital,
Detroit, Michigan (1931-1965)
Founders:
Dr. Alfred E. Thomas, Sr.
Location:
544 E. Garfield, Detroit, Michigan (83 beds)
The problem of racial segregation in Detroit hospitals and a raging tuberculosis
epidemic led to the opening of the hospital in 1931. The facility was primarily used
as a tuberculosis treatment hospital as its founder, Dr. Alfred Thomas, Sr. and son, Dr.
Alfred Thomas, Jr., sought their own private solutions to the serious health problems
facing the African American community in Detroit.
Six years later, Bethesda was joined by its "sister" institution,
Edyth K. Thomas Memorial Hospital, which Dr. Thomas, Sr. opened for the care of the
acutely ill patient. The combined capacity for both institutions allowed them to
care for approximately 197 patients.
Trinity Hospital,
Detroit, Michigan (1934-1977)
Founders:
Dr W. Harold Johnson
Dr. Frank Raiford, Jr.
Dr. Chester C. Ames
Location:
E. Congress and DuBois (1934)
681 E. Vernor - 140 beds (1942) Detroit, Michigan |
Trinity Hospital may be best known for its post-graduate surgical training and
residency program for African American physicians, and as Detroit's first African American
hospital to operate a cancer detection center. At the time, there
was a need, not only for the housing and treatment of the ill, but for the training and
guidance of the African American medical community.
Included among some of its pioneering procedures were deep x-ray therapy for
treating cancer and physiotherapy. Trinity Hospital sought to grow as a training
facility and as an institution of excellence until its merger with Southwest Detroit
Hospital in 1977.
Public Health Students of African Descent (PHSAD), UM School of Public Health,
12th Annual Minority Health Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 20-21, 1998
Ron Amos,
Research Associate,
PHSAD Conference,
UM, 20 March 1998
Norman L. Foster, MD, presented a poster with Dr. Judith L.
Heidebrink, MD entitled Alzheimer's Disease is Particularly Under-reported in Women
and Minorities.
Harold W. Neighbors, Ph.D., presented a poster exhibit with Marc A.
Musick and David R. Williams, Ph.D. entitled The African American Minister as a Source
of Help for Serious Personal Crisis: Bridge or Barrier to Mental Health Care.
The Kellogg Project Team also presented a poster exhibit
highlighting the project goals, purpose, and narrators that participated in the 1st phase
of the project.
Kellogg Project Web Site
Our web site includes excerpts from the taped oral history
interviews, digital images, other materials from the collections, oral history training
materials, a bibliography, and links to other resources.
A historic photo gallery of African American Health Care
Professionals and Black Proprietary Hospitals in Michigan is under development.
The web address is: www.med.umich.edu/haahc
Oral History Collections
The collections are located at:
 | Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan-Ann
Arbor
|
| Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University
|
| Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library
|
| Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in
Detroit
|
| Center for Afro-American and African Studies at the University of
Michigan-Ann Arbor
|
|
Project Update
The Project Team is currently conducting the second cycle of interviews. We are
also planning for the National Conference and health care exhibit which will be held at
the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on February 26,
1999.
Upcoming Issue
The summer quarterly newsletter will feature 3 more of the seventeen Black-owned
and operated hospitals in the Detroit Metropolitan area during this century, along with
project updates.
We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to mail them to:
George Myers, Project Coordinator
University of Michigan Medical School
300 North Ingalls Building, Room 3D019
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105
734-647-6918
email: gmyers@umich.edu
Research Investigators
Norman L. Foster, M.D., Professor, University of Michigan Medical School
Harold W. Neighbors, Ph.D., Professor, University of Michigan School of Public
Health
Project Advisors
Vence Bonham, J.D., College of Human Medicine; Michigan State University
Joel Howell, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, University of Michigan Medical School
Martin Pernick, Ph.D., Professor, History Dept., University of Michigan
Richard Candida Smith, Ph.D., Professor, History Dept., University of Michigan
Nicholas Steneck, Ph.D., Professor, History Dept., University of Michigan
Brian Williams, M.L.S., Associate Archivist, Bentley Historical Library, University of
Michigan
Kellogg Project Team
George Myers,
Project Coordinator
Ron Amos,
Research Associate
Amy Hawkins,
Research Associate
Christopher Bacchus,
Student Research Assistant
Kyle Perry,
Research Assistant
Kristin Myers,
Student Intern
Congratulations!!!!
 |
|
|
| Ms. Amy Hawkins, a research associate with this project, gave birth
to a beautiful 7lb. 8oz. baby boy, named Charles Vincent Patrick Hawkins on May 10, 1998.
Mother and son are doing well. |
|
