remedies brought over from Africa. Sometimes these were successful, but they often resulted in disastrous side-effects which might lead to more disability than they started with.
Over time, the slaves developed their own practitioners, called “slave doctors”, who attained considerable fame in their localities. Some of these slave doctors went on to become quite successful and many were credited with curing specific diseases and conditions such as snakebite and rabies. Some even bought or were granted their freedom.
A very few went on to medical schools, and the first black graduate of an American medical institution was David John Peck in 1847. After the Civil War ended, several black medical schools were started so that African Americans could treat their own. The first to open was Howard University School of Medicine in 1868, and by 1910 there were 11 such schools.
However, after the Flexner Report on Medical Education in the United States and Canada was commissioned by the Federal Government, 9 of these institutions were closed on the grounds that they were not qualified to produce competent doctors, and by 1930 the number had been reduced to 2: Howard, and Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Flexner Report, written by