‘A Prescription for Change’

Throughout American history, African Americans have been denied the healthcare that white European Americans provided for themselves. Despite segregation, many inspirational Blacks took action to safeguard their community’s health – they achieved medical degrees and offered their services to other Blacks. Such medical professionals are the subject of “A Prescription for Change: Black Voices Shaping Healthcare in Virginia,” an exhibition at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia.

Exhibition curator, public historian, and author Elvatrice Parker Belsches approached the project with 20 years of research, including both medical and historic. In this Virginia-focused Black history museum, she highlights medical professionals who were born in Virginia, went to school here, practiced here, or otherwise made a significant impact. Many of these professionals, she notes, made a national impact as well.

The exhibition highlights the achievements of Black men and women in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health professions, from the 1700s to today. It looks at Black educators, institutions of higher learning, hospitals, and organizations that fostered the generations to care for the community. Viewers can read their inspirational stories and images and see artifacts of early care.

Inspirational stories include

John Meade Benson was the first known Black person to pass the Virginia Pharmacy Boards and be licensed as a pharmacist in Virginia.

Nellie F. Benson was the first known Black woman to become licensed as an assistant pharmacist, later becoming a licensed pharmacist. She was the wife of pharmacist John Meade Benson.

The Bensons operated Thompson and Benson Pharmacy, on West Leigh Street in Richmond, with George A. Thompson.

Claudine Curry Smith served as a midwife for more than 30 years, delivering more than 500 babies on Virginia’s Northern Neck. She co-authored “My Bag Was Always Packed: The Life and Times of a Virginia Midwife.”

William S. Cooper Sr. was born in Northampton County on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. He went to Virginia Union University and the Medical College of Virginia School of Pharmacy, becoming its first know Black graduate. He was pharmacist and owner of Maymont Pharmacy in Richmond in the 1970s, earning the moniker “the People’s Pharmacist.” He purchased a bicycle from Agee’s Bike Shop to make home deliveries to customers.

Dr. Charles Drew, an American surgeon and medical researcher in the field of blood transfusions, improved techniques for blood storage, including the development of large-scale blood banks in World War II, which helped save the lives of thousands of Allied forces.

As an activist and the most prominent African American in the field, Drew also protested against racial segregation in blood donations. He is quoted in the exhibition: “The blood of individual human beings may differ from blood groupings, but there is absolutely no scientific basis to indicate any difference in human blood from race to race.”

Giving recognition as inspiration for the future

Not only were minorities denied equal opportunities, the accomplishments of high-achieving minority individuals were often overlooked as well. This exhibition helps to rectify that.

Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris recalls, “My mother always used to say, ‘Don’t just sit around and complain about things. Do something.’” These Black Americans did just that, providing inspiration to others to continue their work.

“A Prescription for Change” notes the challenges that underrepresented populations continue to face. “Communities throughout America still address the historical and ongoing impacts of health disparities,” one exhibit declares. “By chronicling these powerful historical narratives … this exhibit will be an important guidepost in identifying solutions for today’s public health inequities.

An art exhibition organized by the Black American Artist Alliance of Richmond (BAAAR), “Sweet to the Soul and Healing to the Bones,” runs through Nov. 30, 2024, as a complement to the featured exhibition.

“A Prescription for Change: Black Voices Shaping Healthcare in Virginia”
Sept. 18, 2024 to March 15, 2025
Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia 
122 W. Leigh St., Richmond