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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 14. The Negro in Business, the Professions, Public Service and Other White Collar Occupations - 6. The Negro in Medical Professions
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324 An American Dilemma
to participate in their programs. When the Negro physician receives his degree in
medicine and is licensed to practice there is little distinction between his training and
that of any other American physician—^but the equality ends there, for race pro-
scription then begins. Opportunities for internships and residences are circumscribed,
hospital and clinical facilities are denied, membership in county medical and other
professional and scientific societies is refused (in the South). Hence the Negro
physician becomes the general practitioner par excellence—isolated and serving a
low income group.®"
The prospects of the Negro physician are becoming increasingly uncer-
tain because of the present growth of all kinds of public health facilities.
This trend cannot fail to take the Ipw income clientele away from the
private practitioner, and this, of course, means that the Negro doctor may
lose almost all his patients unless he is given a place in the new public
health system. Many Negro doctors, particularly in the South, are quite
pessimistic about their chances of getting such a place, and, for this reason,
one sometimes finds the most ardent opponents of any program of ^^social-
ized medicine” among Negro doctors.®^ They are undoubtedly right in
assuming that an extension of the public health services to low income
families would constitute a tremendous risk from their point of view. At
the same time, however, there are definite possibilities for them in such a
development j
if they do succeed in getting a fair representation on the
public health programs, there will be more employment for them, since
these programs must cause a tremendous increase in the use of medical
services among low income groups.
The fact that the Negro doctor has such small opportunities for hospital
training and specialized work is the reason why there is some justification
for the belief that the Negro is less well trained than the white man as a
physician or surgeon. The basic training is generally considered adequate.
Only a small minority of Negro doctors are trained at white schools. About
four-fifths of them get their education at two Negro medical schools:
Meharry in Nashville, Tennessee, and Howard in Washington, D.C. The
percentage of failures at state board examinations is about the same for
graduates of Negro schools as for graduates of white schools.®^ It is
obvious, however, that these institutions cannot offer any wide range of
opportunities for specialized work.®®
According to a sample study by Johnson—which contained 510 cases
—
the median income of the Negro doctors was $2,726.41 in 1936.®® Never-
theless, some Negro physicians were comparatively wealthy men. Woodson
found a few having fortunes of over $50,000. A large proportion of the
Negro physicians, however, get a considerable part of their income from
sources other than their practice. Several of them work for Negro insurance
companies and benevolent societies. Some have made fortunes in real
estate. There are those who own drug stores. Others have their own private
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