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Despite racism and obstacles, African-Americans have doctors, inventors, engineers and scientist have an impressive resume of accomplishments. Just a few to share:

In 1883, Charles Burleigh Purvis became the �rst Black surgeon chief to serve a hospital. Additionally, when President James Gar�eld was fatally shot in 1884, he was the �rst Black doctor to serve the President of the United States.

Nathan Francis Mossell founded the �rst hospital in Philadelphia primarily for African-Americans, the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School for Nurses. Canadian born and the great-grandson of a slave, he was the �rst to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania medical school. Later becoming the �rst Black admitted to the Philadelphia County Medical Society. Mossell was also a civil rights activist, founding the Philadelphia chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. and member of the Niagara Movement.

The �rst Black woman to graduate from a New York state medical school, the New York Medical School for Women and as valedictorian, was Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward (yes, all of that is her name). She became the �rst Black woman to practice medicine in New York, the third in the nation. She practiced in Brooklyn and later became the physician in resident at Wilberforce College (now Wilberforce University).

The �rst successful open heart surgery was performed in Chicago by Daniel Hale Williams in 1893. While open-heart surgery is common today, in 1893 it was ground-breaking. Williams opened the chest cavity in order to repair the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart. He is also credited with opening Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses in Chicago, the �rst with an interracial staff. In 1894, he moved to Washington D.C. where he ran the Freedmen s Hospital which was charged with the responsibility to provide care for former slaves. He co-founded the National Medical Association as an alternative for Black medical practitioners to the American Medical Association, which did not permit Black members.

Charles Drew was the �rst person to set-up a blood bank, initially in Britain and later in the United States for the Red Cross. Drew developed enhanced techniques for the storage and preservation of blood, which was vital for Allied troops in World War II. He emphasized that there was no scienti�c distinction between the blood of Blacks and Whites. This position led to his dismissal from the Red Cross, whose policy was to either refuse Black donors or

segregate the blood supply. A popular fallacy (one I was taught in graduate school!) is that Drew died when he was denied a necessary blood transfusion because of his race. That is not accurate. Drew died from severe injuries he suffered after a car accident.

The real McCoy was the phrase coined in honor of the exemplary work done by Elijah McCoy. Historical tradition (that means there are other proposed explanations for that phrase) typically cites railroad workers who wanted his equipment, only. During his life time 42 patents are credited to him, most associated with the lubrication of machines. Booker T. Washington acknowledged his work in his 1909 book, Story of the Negro, as the most proli�c Black inventor in his time.

The �rst African-American woman to receive a patent was Sarah E. Goode, a former slave. Goode invented a folding bed for individual with limited space. When folded up, it looked and functioned like a roll-top desk, complete with storage space. An illustration is to the right, because if you are like me it was dif�cult to visualize.

Granville T. Woods is often referred to as the Black Edison. His telephone patent was sold to Alexander Graham Bell. One his most signi�cant patents was the multiplex telegraph. This permitted individuals to communicate by voice over telegraph wires. This is credited with speeding up communications. Woods was sued by Thomas Edison, a lawsuit he ultimately won. He was later invited by Edison enter into a partnership, an offer he declined. Another of his inventions was the medal wheel that allowed street cars to acquire electrical power from overhead wires (for those of you who live in Dayton, much like what you see in downtown Dayton). When Woods died, he had over 70 patents credited to his innovations.

Mae Jemison is the �rst African-American female astronaut, becoming the �rst Black female in space aboard the Endeavor in 1992. A medical doctor as well, Jemison spend over two years in the Peace Corp serving Sierra Leone and Liberia. It was upon her return to the United States that she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an astronaut. After her eight day �ight on the Endeavor, she challenged the NASA on its historic posture of excluding women and minorities. Upon her retirement from aeronautics, she founded the Jemison Group which seeks to develop and research advance technologies.

When the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January 1986, Ronald McNair became the �rst African-American to die in space. McNair had earned his PhD from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). In 1984, McNair had served as a crew member on the Challenger where he is reported to have played his saxophone while in orbit.

Apparently always a person of conviction, his brother tells the following story: When he was 9 years old, Ron, without my parents or myself knowing his whereabouts, decided to take a mile walk from our home down to the library. The library was public, but not so public for black folks, when you're talking about 1959. So, as he was walking in there, all these folks were staring at him — because they were white folk only — and they were looking at him and saying, 'Who is this Negro?' He politely positioned himself in line to check out his books. Well, this old librarian, says, 'This library is not for coloreds.' He said, 'Well, I would like to check out these books.' "She says, 'Young man, if you don't leave this library right now, I'm gonna call the police. So he just propped himself up on the counter, and sat there, and said, 'I'll wait.' The brother goes on to report that he got the books, but doesn t report whether his actions led to a change in the library s policy (Astronaut's Brother Recalls A Man Who Dreamed Big).