{"id":104354,"date":"2022-03-24T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/?p=104354"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:54:35","slug":"object-11-staff-of-tuskegee-veterans-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-11-staff-of-tuskegee-veterans-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Object 11: Staff of Tuskegee Veterans Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kb-image104354_319b5c-6b.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image104354_319b5c-6b .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:480px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104354_319b5c-6b.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104354_319b5c-6b .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image104354_319b5c-6b figure{max-width:480px;}.kb-image104354_319b5c-6b .image-is-svg, .kb-image104354_319b5c-6b .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image104354_319b5c-6b .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image104354_319b5c-6b\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/011o_Staff_Tuskegee.png\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/va-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/011o_Staff_Tuskegee.png?w=480\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/va-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/011o_Staff_Tuskegee.png?w=480\" alt=\"Medical staff of the Veterans hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, 1933. The hospital\u2019s director, Dr. Joseph Ward, stands front row center. (VA History Collection)\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-113322\" width=\"480px\" height=\"330px\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27480%27%20height%3D%27330%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20480%20330%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27480%27%20height%3D%27330%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/011o_Staff_Tuskegee.png?resize=300,206 300w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/011o_Staff_Tuskegee.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Medical staff of the Veterans hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, 1933. The hospital\u2019s director, Dr. Joseph Ward, stands front row center. (VA History Collection)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the Civil War, the Central Branch of the <a href=\"https:\/\/express.adobe.com\/page\/6ZBRNibZ05mrL\/\" rel=\"noopener\">National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers<\/a> in Dayton, Ohio, and the Southern Branch in Hampton, Virginia, opened their doors to Union Veterans without regard to <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-54-recruiting-broadside\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"111148\">skin color<\/a>. The men admitted to these branches found themselves living in two of the nation\u2019s first racially integrated federal institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the turn of the century, however, the landmark Supreme Court ruling&nbsp;<em>Plessy v. Ferguson<\/em>&nbsp;allowed&nbsp; institutionalized racism and segregation to prevail in American society. Many Veterans hospitals followed the policies adopted by the military and medical communities and made racial segregation the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To accommodate the growing number of African American Veterans in the south following World War I, the <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/featured-stories\/veterans-bureau\/\">Veterans Bureau<\/a> opened a hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1923 reserved exclusively for their use. Originally called the \u201cHospital for Sick and Injured Colored World War Veterans,\u201d the installation was staffed entirely by Black doctors and nurses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joseph H. Ward, a prominent Indiana physician who served in the\u00a0U.S. Army Medical Corps\u00a0during World War I and afterwards rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, became the hospital\u2019s director. He was the first African American to hold this position in VA history. The Tuskegee facility operated as the VA\u2019s only Black Veterans\u2019 hospital for thirty-one years, providing care for more than 300,000 former servicemembers.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image104354_982ff4-ad.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image104354_982ff4-ad .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:750px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104354_982ff4-ad.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image104354_982ff4-ad .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image104354_982ff4-ad figure{max-width:750px;}.kb-image104354_982ff4-ad .image-is-svg, .kb-image104354_982ff4-ad .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image104354_982ff4-ad .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image104354_982ff4-ad\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"924\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/va-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg?w=924\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/va-history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg?w=924\" alt=\"Segregated medical dispensary for federal employees, early 1900s. (Library of Congress)\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-104357\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27924%27%20height%3D%27716%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20924%20716%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27924%27%20height%3D%27716%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg?resize=300,232 300w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg?resize=600,465 600w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg?resize=768,595 768w, https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/06\/2022021702-e1680142024243.jpg 924w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Segregated medical dispensary for federal employees, early 1900s. (Library of Congress)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the VA allowed hospitals to choose their segregation status based on local and regional practices. As a result, many VA hospitals, primarily in the south, maintained separate wards for White and Black Veterans. If a hospital did not have segregated facilities, Black patients would only be admitted in emergency cases until they could be transferred to hospitals that did treat African Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the end of World War II, knowing that more than a million Black servicemembers would soon be returning to civilian life, the VA explored building another hospital for African American Veterans in Mississippi. However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) argued against establishing more racially segregated hospitals like Tuskegee. The NAACP urged VA to fully integrate all hospitals, arguing that \u201cThere is no reason whatever why colored and white Veterans should be treated in separate hospitals after having fought and bled together to make victory possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Harry\u00a0S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces in July 1948. While the order applied to VA medical installations in theory, forty-seven of the 166 VA hospitals remained segregated in some form through 1953.\u00a0That same year, VA Administrator Harvey V. Higley assured NAACP officials that he supported their goals: \u201cWe find any semblance of segregation unsocial, uneconomical, and undesirable and we hope the day is not far removed when there will be no semblance of racial segregation in VA Hospitals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">True to his word, he directed VA facilities that still sanctioned some form of racial segregation to end the practice as quickly as possible. On July 28, 1954, the agency formally announced that segregation had been eliminated at all VA hospitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To accommodate the growing number of African American Veterans in the south following World War I, the Veterans Bureau opened the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital in 1923 reserved exclusively for their use. Originally called the \u201cHospital for Sick and Injured Colored World War Veterans,\u201d the installation was staffed entirely by Black doctors and nurses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":117249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[81,14,24,94,32,8],"class_list":["post-104354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-objects","tag-black-history-month","tag-minority-veterans","tag-veterans-bureau","tag-veterans-health-administration","tag-world-war-i","tag-world-war-ii"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-11-staff-of-tuskegee-veterans-hospital\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Object 11: Staff of Tuskegee Veterans Hospital","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-11-staff-of-tuskegee-veterans-hospital\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-11-staff-of-tuskegee-veterans-hospital\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Staff-Tuskegee-VA-Hospital.webp?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Staff-Tuskegee-VA-Hospital.webp"},"articleSection":"History of VA in 100 Objects","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"}],"creator":["Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":["black history month","minority veterans","veterans bureau","veterans health administration","world war i","world war 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