Barnes Hospital trustees consider eliminating the treatment of Black patients altogether. School of Medicine Dean Philip Shaffer, PhD, opposes the idea, arguing that for 25 years “it has been one of the fine distinctions of this medical center that it offers medical care without racial or social discrimination.” Segregated care for Black patients continues.
Category: Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital
1926: Barnes Hospital employs Black housekeepers
Barnes Hospital employs Black housekeepers, including Ophelia Jackson, who begins 45 years of employment. Image: Ophelia Jackson
1926: Barnes Hospital opens “colored ward” for surgical patients
A “colored ward” for surgical patients is opened in the basement of Barnes Hospital and is eventually named “0400.” It becomes notorious for its location and deplorable conditions. Another ward for Black internal medicine patients is later created by enclosing an old porch on the first floor.
1923: SLCH opens ward for “colored children”
Children’s Hospital opens a 17-bed area for “colored children,” called the James G. and Margaret L. Butler Ward. Image: In the Butler Ward, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, circa 1923
1915: SLCH opens new segregated facility
St. Louis Children’s Hospital opens a new Central West End building as a segregated facility. Four years later, it begins sending Black pediatric patients to Barnes Hospital’s adult “Colored Ward” for treatment. Image: St. Louis Children’s Hospital, 1915
1914: Barnes Hospital opens
Barnes Hospital opens. Its outpatient clinic treats Black patients, but Black hospital patients are admitted to segregated care in two adjacent houses. One room in the Barnes Emergency Division is designated for Black surgical and obstetrical patients. Image: Washington University Medical Campus, 1915. Care for Black hospital patients is restricted to the two houses, seen […]
1902: Jewish Hospital of St. Louis opens
The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis opens on Delmar Boulevard and soon admits Black patients to its outpatient clinic, though not to the hospital. It moves to Kingshighway Boulevard in 1926. Image: Postcard, Jewish Hospital, circa 1913.
1884: SLCH accepts Black children at walk-in clinic
After relocating from its original 1879 whites-only facility, St. Louis Children’s Hospital accepts Black children at a walk-in clinic but not as inpatients. Image: St. Louis Children’s Hospital, 1884