Page 10 - Howard University Medical Department A Historical Biographical
P. 10

HOWARD  UNIVERSITY.                             IX

         per  cent,  in  1899-1900.   In  other  ways,  which  will  suggest  themselves  to  persons
         familiar  with  conditions  in  this  District,  the  effects  of  the  prejudice  have  appeared.
         Fortunately, outside  of the  District,  the  white  graduates  everywhere  and  the  colored
         graduates in  many, perhaps  most places, take  rank  with  their  fellow-physicians with­
         out  regard  to  race  or  place  of graduation.
             The  cure  of  this  prejudice,  as  of  most  evils  against  humanity,  depends  partly
         on  correct  information,  but  mainly  on  the  application  of  the  golden  rule,  which  it
         may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  recite :  “Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do
         to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them.”  Or,  as  the  Declaration  of  Independence  puts  it,  in
         theory  at  least:  “ We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self  evident,  that  all  men  are  created
         equal;  that  they are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that
         among  these  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.”   This  theory,  which  is
         the  foundation  of  our Government, is  sadly limited  in  its practical application, which
         often  depends on  the  sex,  race  or  pecuniary  condition  of  the  individual.
             The  history  of  a  third  of  a  century  of  the  existence  of  the  University  has dem­
         onstrated  that  racial  antagonism  is  not  so  deep  and  strong  but  it  may  lessen  and
         even  be  extinguished  by  contact  of  educated,  refined  and  otherwise  respectable  in­
         dividuals.  And  insofar  as  the  mass  of  any  race  is  raised  up  to  a  reasonable  level  of
         education,  refinement  and  otherwise  respectability,  accompanied,  as  such  elevation
         is  likely  to  be,  by  acquirement  of  property,  to  that  extent  is  racial  antagonism
         diminished.  Dr.  Patton  wrote  in  his  history:  " Under  such  influences,  little  by
         little,  by  no  compulsion,  through  no  artificial  process,  with  slight  or  no  strife  or
         bitterness,  prejudice  will  abate  and  mostly  disappear,  and  the  two  races  will  find  a
         gradual  solution  of  the  unhappy  problem  which  now  creates  anxiety  and  unhappi­
         ness.  In  Howard  University,  the  flourishing  Medical  Department  has  furnished  a
         noteworthy  illustration  of  the  operation  of  this  cause.  Attracted  by  the  ability  of
         the  Faculty,  the  opportunities  of  the  adjacent  United  States  hospital, and  the  cheap­
         ness  of  the  tuition,  white  students,  male  and  female,  have  gradually  offered  them­
         selves,  have  been  content  to  sit  by  the  colored  students  in  the  lecture  room,  and  to
         work  with  them  at  the  dissecting  table ;  have  competed  with  them  for  the  honors,
         sometimes  succeeding  and  sometimes  failing,  until  now  they  largely  outnumber the
         negroes  and  form  the  bulk  of  the  graduating  classes.  At  a  recent  medical  com­
         mencement  [1887],  in  these  circumstances,  the  valedictory  address  of  the  medical
         class  was  delivered  by  a  negro,  that  of  the  dental  class  by  a  white  gentleman,  and
         that  of  the  class  in  pharmacy  by  a  white  lady.  The  race  and  sex  questions  each
         settled  itself  on  the  base  of  intellectual  merit.”  And  in  regard  to  the  woman
         question  he  also  said :  " For  many  years,  and  amid  much  ridicule,  Howard  Univer­
         sity  was  the  only  institution  of  higher  learning  or  of  professional  instruction  in  the
         District  of  Columbia  which  admitted  lady  students.  Its  success  has  induced  the
         other  institutions  to  imitate  its  example.”
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