Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105/Section 88/Dr. Ross

Overview
Dr. Ross was born in 1910 in New York. He went to school and became a physician in the early 1900s and during the Great Depression. Dr. Ross was interviewed by Nancy Robinson for the Federal Writers Project on July 14, 1939.

Childhood
Dr. Ross was an African American born in 1910 in New York. As a child, he and his family moved to many different areas for work. He desired to practice medicine ever since he was a child. His grandfather, father, and uncle (Dr. Plummer) all practiced medicine and he worked every day to achieve his goal of becoming a doctor. As a young boy growing up during World War I, many opportunities were brought to him at a young age. He was a shoeshine boy, where he shined the shoes that belonged to soldiers along with being a mechanic’s helper. He attended grammar schools in four different areas: Yonkers, New Rochelle, Raleigh, and Campbell, and he graduated high school in Philadelphia.

After High School
After high school, Ross attended Temple University for two years. A racial riot that occurred during his time at Temple was instigated by racial hatred towards one of Ross’ black friends, which resulted in him and his friends being ousted from the university. He then transferred to Villa Nova Catholic College where he completed his undergraduate degree in science. Throughout his time in college, he worked as a houseman and a waiter on the railroad, which enabled him to meet a variety of people and see numerous places. He received his Master's degree at Ohio State University, continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and finally attended Meharry Medical College to finish his degree in medicine.

After Graduation
After Dr. Ross’ graduation, he got married to Brenda Terrence, who he had met at Meharry, and underwent an internship as a resident surgeon at the City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He then left after three years to live up his dream as a physician. He co-partnered at a practice located in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his uncle, Dr. Plummer.

African American Education and Employment
The Great Migration, which took place between 1910 and 1920, was a time where African Americans by the thousands poured into industrial cities to find work and later to fill labor shortages created by World War I. African Americans continued to face exclusion and discrimination in employment, as well as some segregation in schools and public accommodations. By the 1930's, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal legislation and policies allowed discrimination, which resulted in the NAACP launching a legal campaign against segregation, focusing on inequalities in public education. Dr. Ross strongly advocated for education and equality. He expressed that “That is one thing that the Negro has long been desirous of. I also look forward to the day when we will have economic equality and less prejudices. The country has made rapid progress since the Negro was emancipated; and I feel that in time, these conditions will be better too. when this time does come, America will be a better place in which to live".

Racial Prejudice in the Healthcare System
African Americans make up only 6% of the physician workforce, and the disparity is more apparent in certain specialties such as orthopedic surgery and dermatology. Starting out as an African American physician at the end of the 19th century was a daunting task, to say the least. Upon entering the profession, white doctors would join the American Medical Association, an organization founded in 1847 that outlined standards for medical education and focused on improving public health. Doctors had to be members of the AMA to practice at hospitals. While the AMA claimed not to discriminate, it left membership decisions up to its local chapters, which made an African American doctor hard pressed to find a chapter that would accept him. In the first half of the 20th century, the progress African American doctors had made was stymied. At least four African American medical schools closed; Howard University College of Medicine and Meharry Medical College were the exceptions. Meharry founder George W. Hubbard, M.D. had a skill at marshaling slender resources and building his school into a credible institution with good laboratory facilities and a small but well-managed endowment. Meharry lacked only a larger hospital and dispensary.

Colorism in the 1900's
Laws of the early 20th century forced a sense of white supremacy and forced African Americans to develop a new sense of racial identity with this in mind. In fact, until 1920 the US Census split the black population into mulatto and black, sparking discrimination within the African American community. These more pessimistic attitudinal trends are reinforced by such tangible indicators as the persistent problem of racial segregation of neighborhoods and schools, discrimination in access to housing and employment, innumerable everyday acts of racial bias, and numerous signs of the gulf in perception that often separates Blacks and Whites. The Brown Paper Bag Test was a common practice to determine which class African Americans belonged in based on the color of their skin. During the early nineteenth century, member of certain social circles and different workplaces would hold up a brown paper bag to your skin. If the bag was lighter than the individual, they wouldn't be admitted into a social circle.