RESOLUTION AND REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE EXCLUSION OF COLORED
PHYSICIANS FROM THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
DECEMBER 9, 1869.
I offer the following resolution, and ask for its immediate
consideration:--
_Resolved_, That the Committee on the District of Columbia be
directed to consider the expediency of repealing the charter of
the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, and of such
other legislation as may be necessary in order to secure for
medical practitioners in the District of Columbia equal rights
and opportunities without distinction of color.
I hope there can be no objection to this proposition, which has become
necessary from a recent incident. A medical practitioner in Washington,
Dr. Augusta, who had served as a surgeon in the Army of the United
States and was brevetted as a Lieutenant-Colonel, who had enjoyed
office and honor under the National Government, has been excluded from
the Medical Society of the District of Columbia on that old reason
so often and persistently urged, merely of color. It is true that
Dr. Augusta is guilty of a skin which is a shade different from that
prevailing in the Medical Society, but nobody can impeach his character
or his professional position. Dr. Purvis, another practitioner,
obnoxious only from the skin, was excluded at the same time. There is
no doubt that this was accomplished by an organized effort, quickened
by color-phobia.
This exclusion, besides its stigma on a race, is a practical injury
to these gentlemen, and to their patients also, who are thus shut out
from valuable opportunities and advantages. By a rule of the Medical
Society, “No member of this association shall consult with or meet in a
professional way any resident practitioner of the District who is not a
member thereof, after said practitioner shall have resided six months
in said District.” Thus do members of the Society constitute themselves
a medical oligarchy. When asked to consult with Dr. Augusta, some of
them have replied: “We would like to consult with Dr. Augusta; we
believe him to be a good doctor; but he does not belong to our Society,
and therefore we must decline; but we will take charge of the case”:
and this has been sometimes done. Is not this a hardship? Should it be
allowed to exist?
Details illustrate still further the character of this wrong. These
colored practitioners are licensed, like members of the Society; but
this license does not give them the privilege of attending the meetings
of the Society, where medical and surgical subjects are discussed, and
where peculiar and interesting cases with their appropriate treatment
are communicated for the benefit of the profession; so that they are
shut out from this interesting source of information, which is like a
constant education, and also from the opportunity of submitting the
cases in their own practice.
I confess, Sir, that I cannot think of the medical profession at the
National Capital engaged in this warfare on their colored brethren
without sentiments which it is difficult to restrain. Their conduct,
in its direct effect, degrades a long-suffering and deeply injured
race; but it also degrades themselves. Nobody can do such a meanness
without degradation. In my opinion these white oligarchs ought to
have notice, and I give them notice now, that this outrage shall not
be allowed to continue without remedy, if I can obtain it through
Congress. The time has passed for any such pretension.
I hope, Sir, there can be no objection to the resolution. It ought to
pass unanimously. Who will array himself on the side of this wrong?
The resolution was agreed to, and the Committee proceeded to a
full investigation, of which they made extended report,[184]
accompanied by a bill for the repeal of the Society’s charter;
but adverse influence, continued through two sessions to the
expiration of the Congress, succeeded in preventing action.