The Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital, in

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...

, also known as the Afro-American Hospital, was built in 1928. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2006. The Afro-American Sons and Daughters was a

fraternal organization A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity i ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and one of the leading black voluntary associations in the state. Organized in 1924, it had 35,000 members by the 1930s. The founder of the group was Thomas J. Huddleston, Sr., a prosperous black entrepreneur and advocate of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

's self-help philosophy.David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beit
''Let Down Your Bucket Where You Are':The Afro-American Hospital and Black Health Care in Mississippi, 1924-1966,''
Social Science History 30 (Winter 2006), 551-69. In 1928, the association opened the Afro-American Hospital of Yazoo City, Mississippi to give low-cost care to the members. Dr. Lloyd Tevis Miller served as the facility's first director. The hospital, which offered both major and minor surgery, was a leading health care supplier for blacks in Mississippi. It had a low death rate compared to other hospitals that served blacks in the South during the period. The hospital ceased operation in 1966 as a fraternal entity after years of increasingly burdensome regulation, competitive pressure from government and third-party health care alternatives, and the migration of younger dues-paying blacks to the North. The Afro-American Sons and Daughters disbanded during the same period. Huddleston's grandson is

Mike Espy Alphonso Michael Espy (born November 30, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994. He was both the first African American and first person from the Deep South to h ...

, a former member of the House of Representatives and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Notes

References

The Clarion-Ledger:Work on historic hospital set for '08
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afro-American Sons And Daughters Hospital Hospital buildings completed in 1928 African-American history of Mississippi Hospitals established in 1928 Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi 1928 establishments in Mississippi Mississippi Landmarks National Register of Historic Places in Yazoo County, Mississippi Historically black hospitals in the United States