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Daniel Hale Williams (January 18, 1856 – August 4, 1931) was an
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
surgeon, who in 1893 performed what is referred to as "the first successful heart surgery". It was performed at Chicago's Provident Hospital, which he founded in 1891 as the first non-segregated hospital in the United States. Williams' hospital also had an associated nursing school for African Americans. In 1913, Williams was elected as the only African-American charter member of the
American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...
. His famed heart procedure was a pericardium surgery to repair a wound.


Biography


Early life and education

Williams was born in 1856 and raised in the city of
Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania Hollidaysburg is a borough in and the county seat of Blair County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located on the Juniata River, south of Altoona and is part of the Altoona, Pennsylvania, metropolitan statistical area. In 1900, 2,99 ...
. His father, Daniel Hale Williams Jr., was the son of a Scots-Irish woman and a black barber. His mother, Sarah Price, was African-American. The fifth child born, Williams lived with his parents, a brother and five sisters. His family eventually moved to
Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
. Shortly after when Williams was nine, his father died of tuberculosis. Williams' mother realized she could not manage the entire family and sent some of the children to live with relatives. Williams was apprenticed to a shoemaker in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...
but ran away to join his mother, who had moved to
Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
. He later moved to
Edgerton, Wisconsin Edgerton is a city in Rock County and partly in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,945 at the 2020 census. Of this, 5,799 were in Rock County, and 146 were in Dane County. Known locally as "Tobacco City U.S.A.," bec ...
, where he joined his sister and opened his own barber shop. After moving to nearby
Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat and largest city in the county. It is a principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin, Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Madison–Jan ...
, Williams became fascinated by the work of a local physician and decided to follow his path. He began working as an apprentice to Dr. Henry W. Palmer, studying with him for two years. In 1880, Williams entered Chicago Medical College, now known as Northwestern University Medical School. His education was funded by Mary Jane Richardson Jones, a prominent activist and leader of Chicago's black community. After graduation from Northwestern in 1883, he opened his own medical office in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
.


Career

When Williams graduated from what is today
Northwestern University Medical School Northwestern or North-western or North western may refer to: * Northwest, a direction * Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois ** The Northwestern Wildcats, this school's intercollegiate athletic program ** ...
, he opened a private practice where his patients were white and black. Black doctors, however, were not allowed to work in America's private hospitals.


Provident Hospital

As a result, in 1891, Williams founded the Provident Hospital, which also provided a training residency for doctors and training school for nurses in Chicago. This was established mostly for the benefit of African-American residents, to increase their accessibility to health care, but its staff and patients were integrated from the start.


Heart surgery

In 1893, Williams became the first African American on record to have successfully performed
pericardium The pericardium, also called pericardial sac, is a double-walled sac containing the heart and the roots of the great vessels. It has two layers, an outer layer made of strong connective tissue (fibrous pericardium), and an inner layer made ...
surgery to repair a wound. On September 6, 1891,
Henry Dalton Henry Clay Dalton (May 7, 1847 – November 3, 1911) was superintendent of the St. Louis City Hospital, Missouri, United States, from 1886 to 1892, and later a professor of abdominal and clinical surgery at Marion Sims College of Medicine (now par ...
was the first American to successfully perform pericardium surgery to repair a wound. Earlier successful surgeries to drain the pericardium, by performing a pericardiostomy were done by
Francisco Romero Francisco Romero may refer to: * Francisco García Romero (1559–1630s), Spanish military officer * Francisco Romero (bishop) (died 1635), served as archbishop in Italy *Francisco Romero (bullfighter) (1700–1763), Spanish matador *Francisco Rome ...
in 1801 and
Dominique Jean Larrey Baron Dominique Jean Larrey (; 8 July 1766 – 25 July 1842) was a French surgeon and military doctor, who distinguished himself in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. An important innovator in battlefield medicine and triage, ...
in 1810. On July 10, 1893, Williams repaired the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish. Cornish, who was stabbed directly through the left fifth
costal cartilage The costal cartilages are bars of hyaline cartilage that serve to prolong the ribs forward and contribute to the elasticity of the walls of the thorax. Costal cartilage is only found at the anterior ends of the ribs, providing medial extension. ...
, had been admitted the previous night. Williams decided to operate the next morning in response to continued bleeding, cough and "pronounced" symptoms of shock. He performed this surgery, without the benefit of penicillin or blood transfusion, at Provident Hospital, Chicago. It was not reported until 1897. He undertook a second procedure to drain fluid. About fifty days after the initial procedure, Cornish left the hospital.


Public and teaching posts

In 1893, during the administration of President
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
, Williams was appointed surgeon-in-chief of Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C., a post he held until 1898. That year he married Alice Johnson, who was born in the city and graduated from
Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
, and moved back to Chicago. In addition to organizing Provident Hospital, Williams also established a training school for African-American nurses at the facility. In 1897, he was appointed to the
Illinois Department of Public Health The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is the code department of the Illinois state government that prevents and controls disease and injury, regulates medical practitioners, and promotes sanitation. IDPH offices The Illinois Department ...
, where he worked to raise medical and hospital standards. Williams was a Professor of Clinical Surgery at Meharry Medical College in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, and was an attending surgeon at
Cook County Hospital The John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital) is a public hospital in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, along with Provident Hospital of Cook County and ...
in Chicago. He worked to create more hospitals that admitted African Americans. In 1895 he co-founded the
National Medical Association The National Medical Association (NMA) is the largest and oldest national organization representing African American physicians and their patients in the United States. The NMA is a 501(c)(3) national professional and scientific organization repr ...
for African-American doctors, and in 1913 he became a charter member and the only African-American doctor in the
American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...
.


Death

His wife, Alice Johnson, died in 1924. Williams died in relative obscurity, of a stroke in
Idlewild, Michigan Idlewild is an unincorporated community in Yates Township, located just east of Baldwin in southeast Lake County, a rural part of northwestern lower Michigan. During the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the few resorts in the c ...
on August 4, 1931. He was funeralized at St Anselm Catholic Church in Chicago, and there is debate about how well attended the service was.


Personal life

Williams was married in 1898 to Alice Johnson, natural daughter of the Jewish-American sculptor
Moses Jacob Ezekiel Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel (October 28, 1844 – March 27, 1917), was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to r ...
and a biracial maid. His retirement home was in
Idlewild, Michigan Idlewild is an unincorporated community in Yates Township, located just east of Baldwin in southeast Lake County, a rural part of northwestern lower Michigan. During the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the few resorts in the c ...
, a black community. Williams was baptized a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
by Fr Joseph Eckert, SVD on his deathbed. He left $2,500 (worth $44,686 in 2021) in his will to St. Elizabeth's Church in Chicago. Williams was buried at
Graceland Cemetery Graceland Cemetery is a large historic garden cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Ir ...
in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood.


Legacy

In the 1890s several attempts were made to improve cardiac surgery. On September 6, 1891 the first successful pericardial sac repair operation in the United States of America was performed by Henry C. Dalton of Saint Louis, Missouri. The first successful surgery on the heart itself was performed by
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
surgeon
Axel Cappelen Axel Hermansen Cappelen (20 July 1858 – 13 November 1919) was a Norwegian surgeon. He was born in Selje as a son of district physician Johan Nicolay Cappelen (1818–1890) and Elisabeth Brunchorst Ravn (1825–1906). His brother Christian was ...
on September 4, 1895 at
Rikshospitalet Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. It was an independent hospital, ''Rigshospitalet'', later spelled ''Rikshospitalet'' ("The National Hospital"), from 1826 to 200 ...
in Kristiania, now
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
. The first successful surgery of the heart, performed without any complications, was by Dr. Ludwig Rehn of
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, who repaired a stab wound to the right ventricle on September 7, 1896. Despite these improvements, heart-related surgery was not widely accepted in the field of medical science until during World War II. Surgeons were forced to improve their methods of surgery in order to repair severe war wounds. Although they did not receive early recognition for their pioneering work, Dalton and Williams were later recognised for their roles in cardiac surgery.


Honors

Williams received honorary degrees from
Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
and Wilberforce Universities, was named a charter member of the American College of Surgeons, and was a member of the Chicago Surgical Society. * A Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was placed at U.S. Route 22 eastbound (Blair St., 300 block), Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, to commemorate his accomplishments and mark his boyhood home. * His home in Chicago is now known as the
Daniel Hale Williams House The Daniel Hale Williams House is the former home of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931), one of the first major African American surgeons. Located at 445 East 42nd Street in the Grand Boulevard community area of Chicago Illinois, the buil ...
and was added to 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 ...
in 1975. * His retirement home in Idlewild was given a historical marker by the state of Michigan in 2008. * Several schools are named in his honor, including the
Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School is a public four-year high school campus located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. DuSable is owned by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school ...
in Chicago; Daniel Hale Williams Elementary in Gary, Indiana; P.S. 307 Daniel Hale Williams in Brooklyn; and M.S. 180 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams in the Bronx. * Williams Park in Chicago is also named in his honor.


Representation in other media

* The
Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...
song " Black Man" honors the achievements of Williams, among others. *
Tim Reid Timothy Lee Reid (born December 19, 1944) is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–82), Marcel "Downtown" Brown ...
Plays Dr. Williams in the TV series ''Sister, Sister'' season 5 episode 18 "I Have a Dream" (February 25, 1998). * In 2002, scholar
Molefi Kete Asante Molefi Kete Asante ( ; born Arthur Lee Smith Jr.; August 14, 1942) is an American professor and philosopher. He is a leading figure in the fields of African-American studies, African studies, and communication studies. He is currently professor ...
listed Daniel Hale Williams on his list of
100 Greatest African Americans ''100 Greatest African Americans'' is a biographical dictionary of one hundred historically great Black Americans (in alphabetical order; that is, they are not ranked), as assessed by Temple University professor Molefi Kete Asante in 2002. A s ...
. * His life (along with Dr.
Ulysses Grant Dailey Ulysses Grant Dailey (1885–1961) was an American surgeon, writer, and teacher. He was one of the first African Americans recognized in the field of medicine in the United States., p. 373. In 1949, the House of Delegates of the National Medical ...
) is retold in the radio drama "The Heart of George Cotton", presented by ''
Destination Freedom ''Destination Freedom'' was a weekly radio program produced by WMAQ in Chicago from 1948 to 1950 that presented biographical histories of prominent African-Americans such as George Washington Carver, Satchel Paige, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tu ...
''"The Heart of George Cotton" radio presentation
/ref>


See also

*
The Knick ''The Knick'' is an American medical period drama television series on Cinemax created by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler and directed by Steven Soderbergh. The series follows Dr. John W. Thackery (Clive Owen) and the staff at a fictionalized ve ...
* Vivien Thomas


References


Bibliography

* Bigelow, Barbara Carlisle, ''Contemporary Black biography: profiles from the international Black community'', Gale Research Inc., 1992,


Further reading

* * * Chenrow, Fred; Chenrow, Carol (1973). ''Reading Exercises in Black History'', Volume 1. Elizabethtown, PA: The Continental Press, Inc. p. 60.


External links

*
The Provident Foundation



Obituary in the Journal of the National Medical Association (PDF file).


{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Daniel Hale 1858 births 1931 deaths African-American physicians American cardiac surgeons American hospital administrators American people of Scotch-Irish descent People from Janesville, Wisconsin People from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago) Feinberg School of Medicine alumni Physicians from Pennsylvania People from Lake County, Michigan African-American Catholics 20th-century African-American people African-American history in Chicago