DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS

DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS, (1856 -1931) was a surgeon who performed the first successful heart surgery at Chicago Provident Hospital in 1893.

In 1913, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was the only African American member of the American College of Surgeons.

Narration:

A renowned surgeon and the first African American cardiologist. His name – Dr. Daniel Hale Williams.

Born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, Williams’ father was African American, his mother Scots-Irish.  As a young adult, he became fascinated with medicine. By 1880 he entered Northwestern University Medical School and opened his own medical office in Chicago.

African Americans were denied privileges at white hospitals, so Dr. Williams established Provident Hospital. The first non-segregated, Black-owned hospital in America.

Dr. Williams is credited with performing the first successful heart surgery. His procedures became the standard for future operations.

Surgeon-in-Chief of Freedman’s Hospital in 1893, he also received honorary degrees from Howard and Wilberforce University and was a member of the American College of Surgeons and the Chicago Surgical Society.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams – A Great American

Credits: Editor: Stacy T. Holmes, ACE, Narrator: Steve Schy, Music: PartnersinRhyme.com, Digital Collection: Library of Congress, Copyright: CBN Communications