African American Medicine in Washington, D.C.: Healing the Capital During the Civil War Era

By Heather M. Butts JD MPH MA and Dr. Hugh Florenz Butts MD

The service of African Americans in defense of the Union during the Civil War required African American nurses, doctors and surgeons to heal those soldiers. In the nation's capital, these brave healthcare workers created a medical infrastructure for African Americans by African Americans. Preeminent surgeon Alexander T. Augusta fought discrimination, visited President Lincoln, testified before Congress and aided the war effort. Washington's Freedmen's Hospital was formed to serve the District's growing free African American population, eventually becoming the Howard University Medical Center. These physicians would form the National Medical Association, the largest and oldest organization representing African American doctors and patients. Author Heather M. Butts recounts the heroic lives and work of Washington's African American medical community during the Civil War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Nov 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781625851895

Heather M. Butts JD MPH MA

Heather Butts, JD, MPH, MA, is an integration of science and practice (ISP) instructor and faculty advisor of the part-time health policy management students at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where she teaches bioethics and public health law. She also serves as an adjunct professor in health law and bioethics at St. John's School of Law. She is a co-founder and board member of the non-profit H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths, Inc., which focusses on college readiness and preparation. Dr. Hugh Butts completed his medical training at the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Clinic for Training and Research in 1961 and was appointed a psychoanalyst in 1967. He has been the associate director of the department, and chief of the Psychiatric Inpatient Service and Day Hospital, director of the Bronx State Hospital and first deputy commissioner of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene. Dr. Butts is currently in private practice in New York City where he resides.