After the Civil War, smallpox ravaged the makeshift camps in the South where newly freed Black Americans had taken refuge. In the 1860s, doctors hadn’t even heard of viruses, but there were two things they did know.
They didn't want smallpox spreading to white communities, and they wanted Black people to be just healthy enough to return to plantation work. When the country's first federal health care program opened through the Freedman's Bureau, doctors were sent to the South. But their pleas for equipment went ignored. Forty hospitals were built and then quickly closed.
According to The 1619 Project, "white legislators argued that free assistance of any kind would breed dependence and that when it came to black infirmity, hard labor was a better salve than white medicine." They didn't want universal care because it would've meant we'd use the same facilities and doctors and live longer.
For decades, these anti-Black ideas shaped federal policies, leading to the deliberate exclusion of Black Americans. Employer-based insurance tied healthcare to getting a "good job," which was and remains intentionally difficult for us.
So we created our own healthcare system. Fundraised for Black health facilities. Ran disease prevention campaigns for Black communities. And established the National Medical Association. We've gotta keep this same energy by establishing, operating, and supporting ourselves first and foremost. How can you care for someone in your community this week? Any act of care counts.