AMA Apologizes for Once Excluding Blacks

Posted on Jul 11, 2008

mirror.co.uk

Even today, less than 2 percent of the AMA’s membership is black.

The American Medical Association has finally apologized for once excluding black doctors from membership. The discriminatory policies ended in the 1960s, but it has taken almost 50 years for the group to formally apologize for its institutional racism.

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The New York Times:

The American Medical Association formally apologized on Thursday for more than a century of policies that excluded blacks from the group, long considered to be the voice of American doctors.

It was not until the 1960s that association delegates took a strong stance against policies dating to the 1800s that barred blacks from some state and local medical societies.

While the association did not have a formal policy barring black doctors, physicians were required to be members of the local groups to participate in the association, said Dr. Ronald M. Davis, the group’s immediate past president.

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