[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 16, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H501-H505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gutknecht). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Davis) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment my 
colleagues on a very interesting discussion that just took place, 
especially as it relates to health care and the role of community 
health centers and rural health centers in providing for the health of 
this Nation.
  As we continue to celebrate African American History Month, a time 
that is set aside largely due to the efforts of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, 
where we pause, take a look at the contributions as well as the needs, 
hopes and aspirations of African Americans in this country, I am 
pleased to be joined by my colleague, the gentlewoman from the Virgin 
Islands (Mrs. Christensen), who is a physician, has been a practicing 
physician, and who has been a director of clinics and community health 
centers, who currently serves as chair of the Congressional Black 
Caucus' Health Brain Trust, but is indeed a dynamic Member of this 
body.
  Mr. Speaker, we come to talk a bit about not only the contributions 
of pioneer African Americans in the area of health, but also as we look 
at continually the health problems and disparities that exist in our 
Nation, especially as they relate to the needs of African Americans. So 
I say to my colleague, it is a pleasure to be here with her this 
afternoon.

[[Page H502]]

                              {time}  1415

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague, and 
I thank him for yielding to me.
  I wanted to just talk a bit first about some of the women in 
medicine. As my colleague knows, I have the privilege of being the 
first woman physician in the U.S. Congress. And I am very grateful to 
my constituents of the U.S. Virgin Islands for voting me into this 
position and allowing me to have that honor.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, they sound like they were some 
very wise people.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. But before I even begin to talk about the women, I 
want to spend the first few moments to brag a little bit on behalf of 
my constituents that, indeed, the first African American physician to 
serve in the U.S. Congress was also from the Virgin Islands, and that 
was Doctor, Governor, and Congressman Melvin H. Evans, who served from 
1978 to 1980 before becoming ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.
  Although women of African descent have been providing health care in 
our communities in this country from times of slavery, it was not until 
1864 that Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first woman to be awarded a 
doctorate of medicine in the United States. She was a graduate of 
Female Medical College.
  Dr. Rebecca Cole was the first black woman to graduate from Women's 
Medical College and, by most accounts, the second black woman physician 
in the United States. She worked for a time with Elizabeth Blackwell, 
who was the first white female physician in this country.
  Dr. Cole was soon followed by Susan Smith McKinney Steward and Sarah 
Loguen Fraser. Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward graduated from New York 
Medical College in 1870 and was the first woman doctor of African 
descent in New York State and went on to be co-founder of the Women's 
Hospital and Infirmary in Brooklyn.
  Sarah Loguen Fraser, who in 1876 received her MD from Syracuse 
University College of Medicine, was also one of the early African 
American women in medicine in this country.
  There are so many outstanding women in medicine, not all of whom are 
doctors, and let me just tell you of a few more of them from the 19th 
century before talking about some of the outstanding women of this 
century.
  The first African American woman to earn a doctor of dental surgery 
degree in 1890 was Dr. Ida Gray Nelson Rollins, who was a graduate of 
the University of Michigan Dental School; and she practiced in 
Cincinnati and in the hometown of my colleague in Chicago.
  Mary Eliza Mahoney is reported to have been the first black 
professionally trained nurse in the United States. Born in Roxbury, 
Massachusetts, she was employed as a maid at the local hospital before 
entering her training.
  In addition to Ms. Mahoney's notable activism within the field of 
nursing, she was also a fervent supporter of women's suffrage and is 
said to have been one of the first black women in Boston to have 
registered to vote.
  I am a member, too, of the National Medical Association, as my 
colleagues know, and it has had several outstanding female presidents. 
The first was Dr. Edith Irby Jones, who was the first African American 
to enter the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. She graduated 
from that institution with an M.D. in 1952 and served as the National 
Medical Association president in 1985.
  Dr. Irby Jones was later followed by Dr. Vivian Pinn in 1989. In that 
year, the board was also chaired by a woman, Dr. Yvonne Chris Veal of 
New York, who later went on to be the first woman to serve in both 
capacities when she became president of the NMA in 1995.
  Dr. Vivian Pinn was also the first permanent director of the Office 
of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health, 
where she still serves in that capacity.
  In 1991, Dr. Alma Rose George of Michigan became the third woman to 
head this prestigious organization, which represents the African 
American medical community.
  Two other of the many notable black women physicians are Dr. 
Joycelynn Elders, who served as U.S. Surgeon General from September 
1993 to December 1994. Her mission was and still is to change America's 
thinking about health by emphasizing prevention. She initiated programs 
to combat youth smoking and teen pregnancy, as well as to increase 
childhood immunizations. She advocates public health over private 
profits and health care reform, openness over censorship and sex 
education, and rehabilitation over incarceration in the war against 
drugs.
  Another outstanding woman physician is Dr. Mae Jamison, who was the 
first African American woman to participate in the space mission aboard 
the 50th space shuttle flight in 1992. She continues to share her 
knowledge through speaking engagements and teaching at the university 
level.
  These individuals are representative of the many women and men as 
well who have served our communities in the 50 States and the 
Territories and contributed to the improved health of African Americans 
and all people of color, indeed of all Americans. They are the reason 
that I and many of my colleagues have been able to practice medicine 
today.

  As we proceed into the 21st century, we should no longer have the 
first African American or the first female for any position. Despite 
the strides that these women and others have made, unfortunately, 
though, there is still much work to be done.
  I salute all of those who have paved the way for today's and 
tomorrow's practitioners of medicine and thank them for opening the 
doors of opportunity for all of us.
  This year's theme is Heritage and Horizons: The African American 
Legacy and the Challenges for the 21st Century. As we face this new 
century, there are many challenges for us in health and science. We in 
the Congressional Black Caucus, together with community and faith-based 
organizations and leaders around this country, are poised to meet those 
challenges, drawing on the rich legacy that inspires us and compelled 
by the disparities in health that still confront us and call us to 
action.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her 
comments.
  She mentioned two ladies, Dr. Irby and Dr. Elders, both of whom had 
some connection with the State of Arkansas, a State that I know a 
little bit about in terms of having grown up there. As a matter of 
fact, I know many members of Dr. Elders' family.
  It occurred to me as my colleague was talking about the things that 
people had accomplished who, in spite of coming from situations that, 
at the very least, would have seemed to have been difficult, and I 
really think of even the African Americans along with others who opened 
black medical schools during the 1800s, shortly after slavery, I mean 
individuals whose parents had been slaves and whose grandparents had 
been slaves.
  Now we find these individuals actually opening medical schools and 
teaching others to become physicians and medical professionals.
  And then I look and even today I am somewhat alarmed, because as I 
look at minority employment in health professions, that only 1.9 
percent of the speech therapists are African American, 2.8 percent of 
the dentists are African American, 3.9 percent of the dental 
hygienists, 4.1 percent of the pharmacists, 4.2 percent of the physical 
therapists, 4.9 percent of the physicians, 6.1 percent of the dental 
assistants, 6.5 percent of the occupational therapists.
  I guess my question becomes, why does it still seem to be so 
difficult for African Americans to become health professionals at a 
greater number than what we are currently experiencing? I mean, why 
only a small percentage of the dentists, 2.8 percent, or such a small 
percentage of the physicians in this country, 4.9 percent? Why do you 
think we are still facing that phenomena in this country?
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, my colleague just pointed out one of 
the great challenges that face us for this century, educating more of 
our daughters and sons and bringing them into the health professions.
  I guess I would have to start back in the schools that they attend. 
As my colleague knows, in many of the inner cities and in many of our 
rural areas schools are in disrepair, they are unsafe, they are ill-
equipped, and they are short on staff, as well. So the preparation that 
our children receive as they

[[Page H503]]

go through elementary and secondary school leaves a lot to be desired, 
and it starts at that level.
  Of course, we are now faced with propositions that have closed the 
door of medical schools to many African Americans and other students of 
color who desire to enter the medical profession, and that is taking a 
serious total on the numbers as we were beginning to strive to make 
some headway there. And really it is more even than just the educating 
of our young people into the field of medicine. Because there is an 
increasing body of knowledge now that demonstrates that when patients 
are under the care of a physician or a health provider of the same or 
similar racial, ethnic, or cultural background that a better doctor-
patient relationship is established and out of that better relationship 
come better patient outcomes and, therefore, better health.
  We have as a major challenge of this century to eliminate the 
disparities in health care and heart disease and diabetes and cancer 
and the diseases that kill African Americans and other people of color 
in excess numbers. That relationship is critical to that.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, what is really alarming to me is 
when I look at the tremendous shortage of nurses. I mean, we can go to 
almost any hospital and there is a need for nurses, yet there appear to 
be not the numbers of individuals especially coming from the African 
American community and especially that part of the African American 
community that I am very much familiar with.

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, if I might say, I want to just applaud 
both the National Black Nurses Association as well as the National 
Medical Association that has been fighting this battle for many, many 
years and continues to.
  The National Black Nurses were on the Hill just a few weeks ago, and 
one of their major focuses is on bringing more of our young men and 
women into the nursing profession.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it would just seem to me that, 
especially as we talk about unemployment and as we go into certain 
areas and as there is uncertainty about what fields individuals should 
pursue and go into even those individuals who are available to attend 
colleges and universities sometimes seemingly come out and might have 
majored in areas where there did not seem to be many job opportunities, 
and yet if you go down to the community hospital and there is a sign 
saying ``nurses wanted,'' or you go to the medical center and there is 
a sign saying ``nurses wanted.''
  So I guess I would also, then, want to take this opportunity to 
suggest, especially to African American youngsters, that if they are 
looking for a career, but to anybody, if they are looking for a career 
and they want to make sure that there are opportunities in that field 
or in that career, then perhaps they ought to be looking at the health 
professions and especially perhaps they ought to be looking in the 
nursing arena. Not that they necessarily have to stop there, but 
certainly that is an area where job opportunities do in fact exist.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I am glad that my colleague talked 
about this as it pertains to allied health professionals. It is an area 
that is often overlooked. But the physicians and the nurses need the 
full team in the health care field to bring our patients, who, as I 
said, are suffering in larger numbers than any other population from 
diseases like stroke, where speech therapy and occupational therapy, 
physical therapy is critical to their recovery.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I guess what we are going to have 
to do in some of these areas, my colleague mentioned education and the 
difficulties where some of the schools are not up to standard and where 
individuals do not get the early training, the early education that 
they really need.

                              {time}  1630

  I guess we are going to have to even go beyond that. I was just 
looking and reading how a report, the Flexner Report, which was done as 
a result of some resources made available by the Carnegie Foundation in 
1910, that after the report there were six black medical schools 
existing at that time, but after the report, four of those six ended up 
being closed; and the only two left were Meharry and Howard. And so 
standards in terms of the definition of standards and who set the 
standards and how the standards are set oftentimes determine the extent 
to which not only do individuals get in but also the extent to which 
institutions may continue to thrive, to survive and to function.
  I cannot help but recall Dr. Charles Drew, the pioneer in blood 
plasma, who after all the work that he had done and all of the advances 
that he had made had an accident and supposedly died because he really 
could not get service at the hospitals that were nearest to him because 
he was African American, he was black; and that time those hospitals 
denied him the opportunity to be served, which means that in addition 
to the technical things that we have to do, the political things that 
we have to do relative to creating the resources, providing the money, 
that there are still some attitudinal changes that must occur in our 
society if there is to be the kind of equity that we desire, the kind 
of equity that we are talking about.
  I mean, it pains me to know, for example, that the Daniel Hale 
Williams hospital, the Provident Hospital that was founded by Dr. 
Daniel Hale Williams, an African American physician who performed the 
first open heart surgery and who established because he had met a nurse 
who had had difficulty being trained and he set up this training 
school, eventually it became a hospital. Yet it had ultimately some 
difficulty. It has reopened now as a part of the Cook County health 
care system but not as a private African American-owned, community-
owned hospital.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I think that is a challenge that is being faced 
across the country for our African American hospitals and hospitals 
that serve African American communities and the poorer communities 
across the country. In many of our districts that are represented by 
the Congressional Black Caucus, hospitals are closing every year.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I think the only answer that we are going to 
ultimately have is universal health care as far as I am concerned and a 
national health plan that is going to provide each and every citizen no 
matter who he or she is, no matter where they might live, no matter 
where they might be, so that they have got access to quality health 
care and they are not going to be shut out because they just did not 
have the resources or they are not going to be put in a category of the 
non-poor, a category of being too wealthy to qualify for some of the 
entitlement activity but really too poor to pay for health insurance, 
too poor to really have a regular physician, to go to a doctor. We have 
got to change that.
  Hopefully, the initiatives this year that are designed to reduce the 
disparities, to close the gap, hopefully those initiatives will build 
upon the strengths that we have seen and come the next year and the 
next year, we will be much closer to equity than where we currently 
are.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman. We have 
made some strides. We have increased portability; we have extended 
health insurance to children who were previously uninsured. We are 
continuing to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program and 
Medicaid. But those are just steps on the way to the ultimate goal, 
which must be universal health insurance.
  The gentleman talks about the historically black colleges and 
universities that have medical schools. They need resources. When he 
talks about some of the political activity that has to take place, we 
need to work very diligently to make sure that our medical schools that 
primarily are African American-serving as well as the Hispanic-serving 
institutions and the Native American-serving institutions have the 
resources they need because the education of people of color to serve 
communities of color because we know of the effectiveness of the 
relationships that are formed there are critical to eliminating the 
disparities in health and elevating the health status for the entire 
country.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I certainly agree that we must have the 
resources. There is simply no doubt about it. We have to find new 
avenues, new systems, and new approaches. But I am just amazed when I 
look back into history

[[Page H504]]

and see what individuals were able to do. I was looking at African 
Americans who had been inventors. Some of this is back during the time 
of slavery when slaves, of course, could not have patents; and so 
African Americans may have significantly been involved in some 
inventions that they never got the credit for.
  For example, it is suggested that when Alexander Graham Bell invented 
the telephone, he had Lewis Latimer, a black man, to draft the plans, 
and that Mr. Latimer had been a member of the Edison Pioneers; and this 
was a group of individuals who had actually worked for Edison. Then we 
go back to even people who lived in the 1700s, Benjamin Banneker, who 
is sometimes called the first black scientist in this country of any 
real note.
  And of course, Banneker helped to lay out the plans for the city of 
Washington, D.C. He was an engineer. He received a presidential 
appointment. It is just amazing that he could have done that. Then 
there was Joe Anderson, a slave who was believed to have played a major 
role in the creation of the grain harvester that Cyrus McCormick got 
all of the credit for, the McCormick reaper. But Joe Anderson helped 
him do it.
  Ben Montgomery, another slave, who actually belonged to Jefferson 
Davis, and he was supposed to have improved a boat propeller. Then 
there were other people like Henry Blair who invented a seed planter, 
Norbert Rillieux who patented a sugar refining evaporator, Louis Temple 
invented a harpoon for killing whales. This is back in 1848. Henry 
Board created an improved bed frame.
  James Forten was actually one of the few blacks that became wealthy 
from an invention. He came up with an invention that helped to guide 
ships. Yet these individuals could not have had a great deal of formal 
education, or they could not have had a lot of opportunity to have 
developed themselves. Take Granville Woods who invented a steam boiler 
furnace. I guess my point is that if these individuals were able to 
come up with the inventions with the creativity, had all of this 
potential, then certainly young African Americans today, who do not 
necessarily have equity in each and every instance but certainly have 
much more to work with than these inventors, like Madam C.J. Walker who 
came up with hair products that women could use in the cosmetic line, 
and of course, became the first African American female to become a 
millionaire. We have had the first doctors, but she also became the 
first millionaire in terms of being a businessperson.
  And so I make a plea for young African Americans to not only look at 
the history, that is, to go back and see what other individuals have 
done, not to just be aware of it, not to just bask in it but to also 
understand what they themselves can in fact do. That, I think, really 
becomes a real part of the value of African American History Month, not 
just to have pageants, not just to have plays, not just to sing songs, 
not just to glory in the athletes and entertainers but to really look 
at the history of a people who have had to make creative use of the art 
of struggle, who have had to make the best use of themselves to come 
from a position of where they were, always moving in the direction of 
where they ought to be, and realizing that when you get to the 
basement, that you are not in the penthouse, and that you have got to 
keep coming.
  But also understanding what Carter G. Woodson attempted to teach us 
about the whole notion of mind control. Carter Woodson wrote this 
tremendous book, The Miseducation of the Negro, and he suggested that 
if you control a man's mind, you do not have to worry about how he will 
act. That is, if you control a man's mind, you do not have to tell him 
to go hither or yon, you do not have to tell him to go to the back of 
the bus, you do not have to tell him to go to the back door. Woodson 
said that he will find his place and stay in it. And that if he goes to 
the back door and there is no door, he will cut one out.
  But the point that he also made is that once individuals get through 
the door, then they need to reach back and help bring somebody else 
along; that it makes no sense to go through the door alone; and that 
you really move as an individual as you help to create opportunities 
for others and as you help to move the group. And so we do not 
necessarily just revere these individuals in terms of saying Dr. Daniel 
Hale Williams was a great doctor or Dr. Percy Julian was a great 
scientist. We say that Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was a great doctor 
because he saved people's lives, because he created an institution, he 
helped people to become well, he provided opportunities for others to 
grow and develop and to become and to be. That really becomes the 
greatness of the people as opposed to the individual just simply being 
a great person. That is not the point at all.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I agree that we have many budding and potential 
scientists, inventors, great doctors and health professionals in our 
community that just need the opportunity. I am also thinking that 
through some of our education initiatives this year that will help to 
open the doors for them to become those inventors, those physicians, 
those scientists.

                              {time}  1645

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I think of my mother, who was probably in many 
ways when I was a kid my greatest doctor. I do not know how she could 
do it, but if I had a fever or was catching a cold, somehow or another 
it seemed as though she could come into the room, put her hand on my 
head and the fever would be reduced, and, if it did not get reduced, I 
certainly felt like it did.
  The legacy of what it is that we have had the opportunity to 
experience, the roles that our parents and grandparents and others have 
played in terms of being the bridges and being the shoulders, I could 
never do anything in relationship to the celebration of African 
American History Month without celebrating my parents, my mother and my 
father.
  My father is 87 years old; and, fortunately, he is still around. We 
say that he was a doctor of sorts, but he really was not. He was a 
doctor because he believed so much in himself.
  I shall never forget, he actually cut a calf's leg off once. I mean, 
we were farmers, and the calf's leg got hurt and set up gangrene, and 
my father decided that he had to save this calf, that we could not 
afford to lose it. So he simply got his ax, sharpened it as sharp as he 
could get it, got himself some ashes and soot and coal oil and 
chloroform, had my brothers and I to hold this calf, and cut the calf's 
leg off. The calf lived, and we had a three-legged cow from then on. We 
were the only people, and we actually kept the cow until we finally 
took her to the auction in a place called Eudora, Arkansas; and sold 
the cow at the auction.
  My point is that if people believe in themselves, if they can believe 
that they can do things, I had 100 chickens one year in the 4-H Club. I 
was a 4-H Clubber, and these chickens would follow me around everywhere 
I went because I would feed them.
  One day I stepped on one's neck and broke the chicken's neck. Well, I 
really felt badly about it, so I thought I would become a physician. I 
got myself a piece of wood, a small piece of wood, put it on the 
chicken's neck, put some coal oil on there and tied it together, and, 
would you believe that the chicken lived? The chicken always walked 
like this, but the chicken lived. I ended up that year with my 100 
Rhode Island Reds intact for my 4-H Club project.
  The other point is when you try something, you do not know if it will 
work. If you want to go to medical school, start getting ready to go. 
Just because you live in the inner city does not mean you cannot go to 
medical school. Just because somebody said your school might not be the 
best, if you want to go to medical school, start preparing right now 
and decide, I am going to be a doctor, I am going to be a nurse, I am 
going to be a scientist, I am going to be an astronaut. I am going to 
do whatever it is that I want to do. Then, by golly, prepare yourself, 
and God will do it.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I think that is the purpose of Black History Month 
and what we are doing tonight, to hold up for our children some of the 
people who have excelled in science, many against great odds and 
through great obstacles. As you said, it is important to look back and 
realize that we are here and have achieved because of our parents, that 
we stand on the shoulders of all of those who came before, and that we 
must provide the shoulders for those who are coming along behind us. It 
is a very important message.

[[Page H505]]

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Well, I want to thank the gentlewoman for 
joining me this afternoon. It has really been a pleasure, and not only 
to talk about history, but also to talk a little bit about mystery.
  I always believe that if you break ``history'' apart, I was taught to 
read phonetically, and if you say ``history,'' that becomes ``his 
story.'' But if you say ``mystery,'' then that becomes ``my story.'' 
Certainly I would hope that every young African American in this 
country especially would realize that they are in the process of 
creating and writing and making their own story, and that they really 
do not have to live through other people's dreams.
  Dr. King had a dream, but he did not have a patent on dreaming. He 
had a dream, but he did not get a patent, which means that you can live 
on 63rd street and have a dream, you can be down in the Mississippi 
Delta and have a dream.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Or in the Virgin Islands.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Or in the Virgin Islands, and have a dream. So 
we will just keep on dreaming, we will keep on working, we will keep on 
believing, we will keep on doing politics, and we will keep on 
celebrating black history. I want to thank the gentlewoman again so 
much.

                          ____________________