Dive deeper into the history of desegregation on the Medical Campus via sharing circles and oral histories, and discover additional DEI initiatives, events and groups via our institutional resources.
Sharing circles
The Desegregation History Sharing Circles provide space for WashU Medicine and BJC HealthCare community members to discuss their reactions, thoughts and questions related to their experience of the desegregation history exhibit and the story it tells of our institutions and the region. Sessions will be held in person and on Zoom.
Institutional resources
WashU Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion directly supports the School of Medicine’s commitment to creating an environment that is diverse, inclusive and nurturing of people from all backgrounds. Visit its website for news and events, training and professional development opportunities, the Understanding Systemic Racism Curriculum, details about our ongoing progress and a variety of additional resources.
BJC Health System
BJC Health System aspires to be a national health care leader where diversity, equity and inclusion are embedded in our values and honored in our daily practices, and where belonging is experienced by everyone we serve. Diversity, equity and inclusion have become a critical foundation for BJC’s commitment to being the provider and employer of choice within all the communities we serve. While the work is ongoing, BJC is proud of the outcomes we have achieved for our patients, team members and communities at large.
Washington University in St. Louis Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
WashU aims to be a diverse community fully committed to the principles of equity, fairness and inclusive excellence. For an overview of the many ways in which the university is working to pursue and value equity, diversity and inclusion and to get connected with groups and initiatives, visit equity.wustl.edu.
Oral histories
In the early 1990s, then-faculty member Edwin McCleskey, PhD, and medical students James Carter (MD ’93) and William Geideman (MD ’93) interviewed people who played a role in the desegregation of the School of Medicine and its associated hospitals. These oral histories, which provided foundational material for the desegregation history timeline, are available through the Becker Archives Database and the Washington University Medical Center Desegregation History Project.
Topics discussed in the oral histories include the segregated facilities at Barnes Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital prior to integration; the events and decisions leading to desegregation in the medical school and hospitals; recruitment, admissions and retention of minority students at the School of Medicine; Homer G. Phillips Hospital, its role in the Black community and its closure; the state of health care for the Black community in St. Louis; and the desegregation of local and national medical societies. The collection also includes some related documents donated by the interviewees.