Midian Othello Bousfield: Advocate for the Medical and Public Health Concerns of Black Americans

Abstract

On October 10, 1933, Midian Othello Bousfield, MD, then president-elect of the National Medical Association, an organization of Black physicians, spoke at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. In his presentation, “Reaching the Negro Community,” he called on increased public health attention to the plight of Blacks in the United States and outlined his views on how to accomplish this goal. Bousfield's appearance underscored his stature as one of the nation's leading Black physicians and his prominence as an influential advocate for the needs of Black patients and health care professionals. Bousfield was born on August 22, 1885, in Tipton, Missouri, the son of Cornelia and Willard Bousfield, a barber. He received his bachelor's degree in 1907 from the University of Kansas and graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1909. After graduating, Bousfield began his internship at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, DC, the facility affiliated with the Howard University School of Medicine. Upon the completion of his residency, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was one of the first Black doctors appointed to the city's Black municipal hospital.1 Bousfield moved to Chicago in 1912 and immediately began to develop the strong relationships in the city's medical, labor, business, and civic communities that helped launch his national career. He joined the staff of Provident Hospital, the country's first Black hospital, and maintained a private practice. From 1915 to 1920 he worked as secretary of the Railway Men's Association, a Black labor organization. In 1919 he became one of the incorporators of Liberty Life Insurance, a Black insurance company where he assumed various responsibilities, including that of medical director and president. Ten years later, the company merged with two other companies to become Supreme Life Insurance Company; Bousfield worked there as vice president and medical director until his death. His work at the insurance companies led to his appointment as chairman of the public health committee of the National Negro Insurance Association. In 1935, Bousfield became director of the Negro Health Division of the Julius Rosenwald Fund, a Chicago-based philanthropy. He served in that capacity for seven years and pushed an ambitious agenda that included training Black public health personnel, establishing scholarships for Black nurses and physicians, creating demonstration projects to promote health education, and influencing public opinion about the health needs of Blacks.2 In 1936, Bousfield was elected president of the Chicago Urban League. Three years later he became the first Black person appointed to the Chicago School Board. During World War II, Bousfield commanded the first Black army hospital, located at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. His appointment, however, prompted the National Medical Association to officially censure its former president for contributing to the perpetuation of segregation. Bousfield, the first Black colonel in the Army Medical Corps, countered that the hospital provided Black physicians with unprecedented professional opportunities.3 In 1945, after a difficult tenure at the hospital, he retired from the military and returned to Chicago. He died of a heart attack on February 16, 1948, and was survived by his wife Maudelle, the first Black high school principal in Chicago, and their daughter, Maudelle Evans. The controversial end of Bousfield's career should not overshadow the accomplishments of his pioneering and multifaceted career. As a physician, insurance executive, and foundation official, he developed several initiatives to improve the health status of Black patients and to expand the professional opportunities for Black nurses and physicians. These activities contributed to Bousfield's emergence during the early decades of the twentieth century as one of the most prominent voices articulating the medical and public health concerns of Blacks and set the stage for his invitation to address the American Public Health Association in 1933.