National Medical Association: Medicine in the Civil Rights Movement

The National Medical Association was founded in 1895 when African-American physicians met at Atlanta's Cotton States and International Exposition and was formally established at First Congregational Church. It served as a professional organization for Black medical professionals who were largely denied membership in the American Medical Association. From its beginning, it advocated for the racial equality of African-American physicians and patients. During the Civil Rights Movement, it campaigned for the desegregation of the American Medical Association and supported integrationist public policies such as the Social Security Acts amendments that created Medicare and Medicaid. Those acts required enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, leading to the integration of facilities using federal funds, including public hospitals. Today, the National Medical Association remains an advocate for healthcare equality and is the oldest continuously existing medical society for African Americans.

Atlanta, Georgia · United States