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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 14. The Negro in Business, the Professions, Public Service and Other White Collar Occupations - 5. The Negro Minister - 6. The Negro in Medical Professions
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322 An American Dilemma
Negro ministers is marginal and insecure, that their educational level is
low, and that they have to sell out to the whites in the South where the
latter demand it.
In Chapter 40 we shall deal with the future prospects of the Negro
church. It is losing out among the young people, mostly because the Negro
preacher has lagged behind the rest of the Negro community and, particu-
larly, behind other professionals, in acquiring a better education. Still the
Negro church retains its hold over the Negro community and will continue
to give livelihood to a large proportion of Negro professionals.
6. The Negro in Medical Professions
The total number of physicians, surgeons, and veterinaries in the United
States was almost stationary between 1910 and 1930. The number of Negro
doctors, on the other hand, increased by almost one-fourth (Table 3). The
main reason for this is that Negroes have migrated to the North and to
cities, where they are more inclined to patronize doctors, and especially
Negro doctors. The overwhelming majority of Negro physicians reside in
cities, and particularly in large cities.**^ Since the Negro urban population
almost doubled during this same period, there was actually a decline in the
Negro physician-to-population ratio if we count only communities which
are served at all by Negro doctors. In 1930 the Negro’s representation in
the medical professions, for the whole country, was less than one-fourth
that of the whites. There has been no appreciable change since then. In.
1940 there were about 4,0CX) Negro physicians and surgeons,"*® and, if we
add the veterinaries, the number was only slightly higher.
There are several reasons for the limitations in the opportunities for the
Negro doctor. Most whites would not ordinarily turn to a physician of
Negro extraction—partly because of race prejudice, partly because they
would not trust his ability. There are some significant exceptions, however,
particularly in certain Northern, Eastern, and West G)ast centers, where
over half the Negro physicians in Woodson’s sample said that they had
some white patients, mainly among the immigrants. Even in the South it
occasionally happens that white patients go to a Negro doctor. But this
practice is largely—though not always—of a questionable character, in that
some white patients want to conceal venereal diseases and pregnancy from
their white friends.**® In the upland areas of the South—for instance in
West Virginia, western Virginia, North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and
so on—^where race prejudice is less intense, there are a few Negro doctors
who have quite a sizeable white practice. Some of it, of course, consists of
cases of abortion and venereal disease, but there are also others, partly
because low income whites often have difficulty in getting service from
other than inefficient white doctors.^^
This white clientele has never been large. It is possible that it is shrinking
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