African-Americans have always seen a hard time while living in American, from slavery to intense racism is what has become their faith. But these people have worked hard to get away with these poisoning factors of the society and have built their own identity. Considering the purpose of providing proper healthcare to the Blacks of America, a hospital was constructed in 1916 for the betterment of the nation. The people working for the hospital had an aim to withhold the prosperity of the Blacks and to provide them top-notch medical services as they were extremely excluded from medical care and is training.

On July 20, 1916, Wheatley-Provident Hospital was inaugurated especially for the Black public in America. It was the first medical facility center that provided its utmost services to the Black community living in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a hard work of the famous doctor Dr. J. E. Perry who was a graduate of MeHarry Medical School. He had the vision to serve this community by all means, as Blacks residing in Kansas City were excluded from any kind of medical and training services at different health centers.

It was the Blacks who were growing in the country but were neglected from many major facilities, from education to medical needs and from proper clothing to food. When the need for African-American doctors and trained nurses grew in the country, the requirement for good hospitals also became a matter of interest. In 1917, a big campaign started to raise money to get a better and bigger place for Wheatley-Provident Hospital. The campaign went successful, and the hospital got shifted to a larger and better facility a year after.

Dr. Katherine B. Richardson in 1922, created a special children’s healthcare program at the hospital along with Perry. The facility started to function a year after with trained medical staff and nurses who provided necessary pediatrics training to the African-American students. But unfortunately, the Wheatley-Provident hospital didn’t survive for long because it was replaced by the famous Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in 1972 and after surviving for a decade, the hospital got closed permanently. To remember this great cause, a wheelchair from this hospital has been displayed as a historical token at the Kansas City museum.

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http://www.bet.com/news/national/2013/07/20/this-day-in-black-history-july-20-1916.html