Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Historical Perspectives of Healthcare Disparities

Is the Past Prologue?

  • Chapter
Eliminating Healthcare Disparities in America

Abstract

What is the historical background of disparities in healthcare delivery and how did these disparities evolve? The history goes back to slavery, wherein what Byrd and Clayton have termed the slave health deficit originated and was nourished. In this chapter, the concept that slavery gave rise to a racist system of healthcare delivery is explored, and the observation that this system is still operative is documented by several pointed examples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. The Bible.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Byrd, W. M. and Clayton, L. A. (2000) An American Health Dilemma. Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Jordan, W. D. (1971) White Over Black. American Attitudes Toward the Negro 1550–1812. Penguin Books, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Drake, S. C. Black Folk Here and Ther: An Essay in History and Anthropology, vol. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bennett, L., Jr. (1993) Before the Mayflower. A History of Black America. Penguin Books, New York, p. 31.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Boorstin, D. J. (1983) The Discoverers. Random House, New York, p. 167.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Stanton, W. (1960) The Leopard’s Spots. Scientific Attitudes Toward Race in America 1815–1859. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Ibid, p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Milner, R. (1990) The Encyclopedia of Evolution: Humanity’s Search for Its Origins. Facts on File, Inc., New York, p. 201.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Stanton, W. The Leopard’s Spots. p. 10.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bell, C. C. (2006) JAMA 296, 2973, 2974. Book review of Burns SB, in Patients and Promise: A Photographic History of Mental and Mood Disorders, 4 volumes. Archives Press, New York.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Stanton, W. The Leopard’s Spots. p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jarvis, E. (1844) Insanity among the colored population of the free states. Am. J. Med. Sci. NS, VII: 71–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Stanton, W. The Leopard’s Spots. pp. 58–65.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Herrnstein, R. J. and Murray, C. (1994) The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Rogers, J. A. (1959) Africa’s Gift to America. Futuro Press, New York, p. 202.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Bennett, L. Before the Mayflower. p. 476.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Beardsley, E. H. (1987) A History of Neglect. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, p. 77.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Flexner, A. (1910) Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A Report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, New York, Bulletin no. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Rogers, J. A. Africa’s Gift to America. pp. 222–225.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Bennett L. Before the Mayflower. pp. 267, 268.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ibid, p. 376.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Personal communication with Dr. W. Montague Cobb, April 28, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Knowles, L. L. and Prewitt, K. (1969) Institutional Racism in America. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, NJ, p. 114.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Bennett, L. Before the Mayflower. p. 231.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Stampp, K. M. (1956) The Peculiar Institution. Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South. Vintage Books, New York, pp. 8, 9.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Weiss, M. M. (1939) The problem of angina pectoris in the Negro. Am. Heart J. 17, 711–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Beardsley, E. H. A History of Neglect. p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Jones, J. H. (1981) Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Williams, R. A. (1975) Textbook of Black-related Diseases. McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Malone, T. E. and Johnson, K. W. (1986) Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black and Minority Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  32. McCallister, R. (2006) From statin therapy to vitamin C. New options for patients with lung disease. Int. Med. World Rep. 21, 24.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, USA

    Richard Allen Williams M.D. (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board)

  2. The Minority Health Institute, Inc., USA

    Richard Allen Williams M.D. (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board)

  3. Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural and Minority Medicine, Los Angeles, California

    Richard Allen Williams M.D. (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board)

Authors
  1. Richard Allen Williams M.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, USA

    Richard Allen Williams MD (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board) (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board)

  2. The Minority Health Institute, Inc., Los Angeles, California

    Richard Allen Williams MD (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board) (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board)

  3. Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural and Minority Medicine, Washington, DC

    Richard Allen Williams MD (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board) (Clinical Professor of Medicine, President/CEO and Chairman of the Board)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Humana Press Inc.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Williams, R.A. (2007). Historical Perspectives of Healthcare Disparities. In: Williams, R.A. (eds) Eliminating Healthcare Disparities in America. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-485-8_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-485-8_1

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-934115-42-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-485-8

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation