Open Access“Outstanding Services to Negro Health”: Dr. Dorothy Boulding Ferebee, Dr. Virginia M. Alexander, and Black Women Physicians’ Public Health Activism
Author(s) -
Vanessa Northington Gamble
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2016.303252
Subject(s) - public health , racism , health equity , gender studies , political science , medicine , criminology , family medicine , gerontology , sociology , nursing
An examination of the lives and careers of physician-activists Dorothy Boulding Ferebee (1898-1972) and Virginia M. Alexander (1899-1949) demonstrates how Black physicians in the first half of the 20th century used public health to improve the health of Black Americans and provides insights into the experiences of Black women physicians. I discuss their professional and personal backgrounds and analyze their divergent strategies to address health inequities. Ferebee used her leadership in Black women's organizations to develop public health programs and become a national advocate for Black health. Alexander, a Quaker, used her religious connections to urge Whites to combat racism in medicine. She also conducted public health research and connected it to health activism. Both were passionate advocates of health equity long before it gained prominence as a major public health issue. An analysis of their work illuminates past efforts to improve the health of Black Americans.