1979: City closes Homer G. Phillips Hospital

The City of St. Louis announces the closing of Homer G. Phillips Hospital, while the other public hospital — the largely white City Hospital #1 — remains open. This decision sparks protests in the Ville neighborhood, where Homer G. Phillips is located.

1978: Maternity Hospital building resegregates, then abandons policy

From the Barnes Hospital Bulletin, December 1978

Robert Frank, Barnes Hospital director, temporarily establishes “geographic separation of patients” in the Maternity Hospital building, with ward patients (largely Black) on certain floors and private patients (mostly white) on others. The effect is resegregation. A brief protest occurs, and the policy is abandoned. Image: From the Barnes Hospital Bulletin, December 1978

1977: Black surgeon Julian Mosley, MD, reflects on dealing with prejudice

Surgeon Julian Mosley, MD, examines a surgical patient, 1977.

In Outlook magazine’s Fall 1977 issue, Black surgeon Julian Mosley, MD, reflects on dealing with prejudice throughout his career: “I’ve learned that certain types of people aren’t worth arguing with. However, it does hurt when good friends who are intelligent make inadvertent remarks which demonstrate that deep down they have an undercoating of ingrained prejudice […]

1973: LaFrances Cockrell: First Black nurse to hold administrative responsibilities

LaFrances Cockrell, right, pictured in the Barnes Hospital Bulletin, December 1965

Nurse LaFrances Cockrell is named the associate director of nursing at Barnes Hospital, overseeing obstetrics and gynecology, nurseries and the otolaryngology divisions, making her the first Black nurse at Barnes to hold administrative responsibilities. Image: LaFrances Cockrell, right, pictured in the Barnes Hospital Bulletin, December 1965

1972: Robert Lee, PhD, becomes assistant dean for minority student affairs

Robert Lee, PhD, speaks with four recently accepted medical students, 1988.

Robert Lee, PhD, becomes the assistant dean for minority student affairs at the School of Medicine and remains in this job until 1992. Robert Lee oral history audio recording available via Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives » Image: Robert Lee, PhD, speaks with four recently accepted medical students, 1988.

1970: Aubrey R. Morrison, MD: First Black intern, chief resident and full professor

Aubrey R. Morrison, MD, in the laboratory, 1986

Aubrey R. Morrison, MD, becomes the school’s first Black intern, and later the first Black chief resident in internal medicine. In 1987, he is named the school’s first Black full professor. The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association honors him with its Faculty Achievement Award in 2016.  In a 2021 special article for the Journal […]