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Each February, the United States celebrates Black History Month in recognition of the contributions and achievements that African-Americans have made throughout history.  

Black HEALTHstory Month aims to present a fuller history of Black health in the United States by highlighting the long-standing fight for health justice and advocacy by African-Americans for African-Americans, and honoring the pioneers of Black health and medicine. 

Explicit discrimination against minorities existed in the 1960s in hospital patient admissions and physician and nurse staff appointments. With passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, along with Medicare legislation in 1965, civil rights advocates within the federal government had a legislative mandate to guarantee equal access to programs funded by the federal government. This effort not only facilitated access to essential hospital and healthcare services for African-American citizens nationwide but was particularly impactful in Southern states.

About Dr. Reynolds

Pamela P. Reynolds, MD, PhD. is a Professor of Medicine in the University of Virginia  Division of General, Geriatric, Palliative & Hospital Medicine. Her research interests include medical professionalism and ethics, the history of racial integration in American medicine, and the history of African Americans in, and contributions to, the health professionals.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Reynolds’ research has focused on the history of race discrimination in healthcare and medical education.  She has published and lectured on teaching and assessment of medical professionalism and ethics, history of racial integration of American medicine, and history and contributions of African American health professionals.