J. Greenberg Statement on School and Hospital Desegregation

    t 
cP 

ector-Counsel 
ducational Fund, Inc 

r 29, 1966, 
ew York, 10019 

a 
NAA 
NAA\ 

Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield, 

assertion that the Departm 2alth, 

segregation of 

by denying Negro ldren their 

their right 

new policy, unfortunately, comes at a time of grave 

with regard to th ' health and ucation. Despite 

medical faciliti 

or services and facilities 

.« Although the form varies 

of 

When southern hospitals construct or modernize health 

facilities the old building or portion of the building 



conventionally becomes a restricted area, Where a building 

or floor is shared, a hospital may maintain separate wards, 

private or semi-private rooms, lavatories, eating facilities, 

entrance ways, emergency rooms, maternity wards or nurseries. 

Some hospitals provide one ambulance service for whites, 

another for Negroes; others schedule out-patient clinics on 

"Negro" and "white" days or segregate thermometers. 

A Florida hospital developed the practice of placing Negroes 

in the basement unless they were "prominent" and one 

Mississippi facility has refused to permit Negroes to visit 

"white" wards. At many hospitals, when a Negro seeks ad- 

mission he is required to show greater financial security 

than a white and is turned away if he does not demonstrate 

ability to pay. Although refusal to admit Negro emergency 

patients is said to be a thing of the past, an alarming 

number of seriously ill Negroes are refused hospital admission 

until a guarantor of their fees can be found. Segregation 

also means a gross disparity in physical conditions and pro- 

fessional services; a surprising number of southern hospitals 

force Negro patients--male and female--to use a single lava- 

tory; and a common method of obtaining rooms for whites is 

($6 



JACK GREENBERG 

to move Negro beds into hallways when the white section of 

the hospital has been filled. Negro patients complain of 

antiquated facilities, poor service and outright discourtesy 

from hospital personnel. 

Discrimination against Negro professionals is also preva- 

lent. Negro physicians and dentists encounter difficulty in 

gaining free access to hospital staffs, forcing them to turn 

patients over to white physicians for hospitalization, much 

to their financial detriment, or to offer treatment in private 

clinics which cannot offer the facilities or services of 

government or community hospitals. The numerous professional 

and educational benefits of affiliation with the American 

Medical Association and American Dental Association are often 

privileges restricted to white practitioners. If a hospital 

employs Negro nurses (and many do not), they are rarely promoted 

to supervisory positions and are often paid less than white 

nurses for the same work, Despite a pressing national need, 

hospital-affiliated nursing schools still exclude Negroes or 

minimize their numbers and few southern hospitals train Negroes 

for expanding job opportunities in technical fields, such as 

Operation of X-ray machines and occupational and vocational 

therapy. 



JACK GREENBERG 

There is a strong correlation between the consequences of 

racial discrimination in health facilities and services 

and the depressed status of Negro health. 

The Negro American, in comparison with his white 

fellow citizen, has more diseases and disabilities; one-third 

more days when he is unable to function at full physical 

capacity; is sick enough to require bed rest on twice as many 

days; loses one and one-third times more days from work due 

to disease and disability; has a higher mortality rate, in- 

cluding a 90 per cent differential in infant mortality and 

seven years shorter life expectancy. 

To summarize: mm of every 1,000 white Americans in 

their late forties, five will die in the coming year. If 

they are Negro, ten will die. 

The Legal Defense Fund has filed hundreds of complaints 

of hospital discrimination with the Department of Health, 

Education and Welfare. We are now litigating 15 cases against 

Seas 



in numerous southern sta 

lic aware- 

the news m has held back federal funds only 

al are locate 

Yet majority’ lead 4 Mansfield concludes that o fea
 

i i) Q Q 8 

has come to the 

donsibility 

right in our lap. the prece we assumed 

the government would compel to the law. We are moving 

to rearrange our present cas 

We had un Gu
 

a a 3) = 

the 

numerous requests from representative 

organiz to file litigation with regards to 

schools. made a policy to hold down the number 

of cases we were carrying in this area because we were laboring 



a 
nberg 

under the impression that the federal government was 

what it promised and we wanted to expand programs in 

will noW acc for additional lawsuits in the 

health and education. This will cause a realignment in ths 

of our New York based attorneys and our more than 

the south. 

We will, » continue to 

our program and will, of necessity, prog to 

finan ility.