Edgecombe Sanitarium was a private hospital run by African American doctors in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It served patients "of considerable means"
who did not want to be served at the primarily white staffed
Harlem Hospital
Harlem Hospital Center, branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, is a 272-bed, public teaching hospital affiliated with Columbia University. It is located at 506 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City and was founded in 1887.
The hosp ...
.
Godfrey Nurse was one of the doctors who founded the hospital. The hospital had twelve beds.
It was started as the result of the Harlem Hospital having a primarily
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
staff.
In 1925, the nearby Booker T. Washington Sanitarium was merged with Edgecombe.
In 1929, Edgecombe had treated 249 patients. Through fundraising, the hospital installed an
x-ray machine.
was part of its Woman's Auxiliary.
Notable patients
*
Jean Carey Bond
Jean Carey Bond is an American writer and activist. A member of the Harlem Writers Guild and Black Arts Movement, she has written for both adult and child audiences. She wrote '' Brown is a Beautiful Color'', a children's book that explores a blac ...
was born at the hospital.
*
Eloise Bibb Thompson
Eloise Bibb Thompson (June 26, 1878 – January 8, 1928) was an American educator, playwright, poet, and journalist. She married fellow journalist and activist Noah D. Thompson.
Early life
Eloise Alberta Veronica Bibb was born in New Orleans, Loui ...
died at the hospital in 1928.
*
Rudolph Fisher
Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher (May 9, 1897 – December 26, 1934) was an American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. His father was John Wesley Fisher, a clergyman, his mother was Glendora Willia ...
died at the hospital in 1934.
References
External links
Receipt from the Edgecombe Sanitarium, February 18, 1931from the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers at the
University of Massachusetts-Amherst archives
Hospitals in Manhattan
Harlem
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