Daniel hale williams family members

Daniel hale williams interesting facts

We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Daniel Hale Williams pursued a pioneering career in medicine. An African American doctor, in , Williams opened Provident Hospital, the first medical facility to have an interracial staff. He was also one of the first physicians to successfully complete pericardial surgery on a patient.

The couple had several children, with the elder Daniel H. Williams inheriting a barber business.

Was daniel hale williams black

He also worked with the Equal Rights League, a Black civil rights organization active during the Reconstruction era. After the elder Williams died, a year-old Daniel was sent to live in Baltimore, Maryland, with family friends. Like his father, he took up barbering, but ultimately decided he wanted to pursue his education. He worked as an apprentice with Dr.

Henry Palmer, a highly accomplished surgeon, and then completed further training at Chicago Medical College. Williams — who was called Dr. Dan by patients — adopted sterilization procedures for his office informed by the recent findings on germ transmission and prevention from Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister. Due to the discrimination of the day, African American citizens were still barred from being admitted to hospitals and Black doctors were refused staff positions.

The facility, where Williams worked as a surgeon, was publicly championed by famed abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass.