Temporary exhibit “African American Hospitals in West Virginia, 1900-1960" is now open at the William A. Neal Museum of the Health Sciences in the Health Sciences Center Pylons Commons and is free for students, faculty, staff and community to visit.
The “African American Hospitals in West Virginia, 1900-1960" exhibit is located next to the museum entrance and includes hospitals from all over West Virginia.
The “African American Hospitals in West Virginia, 1900-1960" exhibit examines pre-desegregation healthcare for African Americans in the state. It highlights 14 hospitals that were Black owned, for Black patients, were state-run hospitals that cared for Black patients in segregated wards or were involved in early segregation efforts.
As the African American population increased in West Virginia, the need for medical care in the Black community intensified. The Mountain State’s Black population skyrocketed from roughly 18,000 in 1870 to nearly 118,000 by 1940. During the Jim Crow Era, West Virginia had more African American healthcare providers and hospitals than any other state in central and southern Appalachia.
However, racial disparities in healthcare still existed, with Black West Virginians experiencing higher death and infection rates than White West Virginians. Like public schools, most medical facilities were segregated prior to integration in 1954.
Featured objects include photographs from Fairmont Miners’ Hospital and a yearbook from St. Mary’s School of Nursing in Clarksburg.
As one of the first southern states to support racial integration in medicine, West Virginia has a rich history of various hospitals caring for Black West Virginians. Visit the “African American Hospitals in West Virginia, 1900-19600” exhibit to dive deeper and learn more.
For more information about the Neal Museum or the exhibit, and how to visit the museum to see any of its exhibits, go to nealmuseum.wvu.edu.