AAP apologizes for racism against first Black members
The AAP issued a formal apology for past racism — what it called “the shameful gauntlet to membership” experienced by its first Black members, Alonzo deGrate Smith, MD, FAAP, and Roland Boyd Scott, MD, FAAP.
The AAP admitted both physicians in 1945, 6 years after they initially submitted their applications but were denied because of their race. A recently published AAP policy statement included transcripts from AAP Executive Board minutes from 1939 to 1945, and quotes board members’ “racist attitudes and beliefs.”
“This apology is long overdue,” AAP President Sally Goza, MD, FAAP, said in a statement. “The AAP is celebrating our 90th anniversary this year — and we have accomplished a lot of good things for children. But we must also acknowledge where we have failed to live up to our ideals. That is the only way we can work together to build a better future.”
In 1939, when deGrate Smith and Scott submitted their initial applications, they were established clinicians and faculty at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., but faced systemic barriers, including segregation in their local chapter of the AMA and an inability to gain entry into local hospitals, the AAP said.
“Personally, I really feel it's an important step for the academy in order to move forward and in any professional organization in order to be authentic in its approach to equity,” Joseph L. Wright, MD, MPHFAAP, senior vice president and chief medical officer for the University of Maryland Capital Region Health, told Healio. “It must really reconcile with its own history and that’s what it is all about.”
The AAP’s Board of Directors announced two actions:
- Apologize for the racism that contributed to the inequities that deGrate Smith, Scott and other pediatricians have endured.
- Commit to a bylaws referendum to explicitly codify that AAP membership does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The experiences of the two pediatricians referenced in the statement are publicly known. It is not a secret,” Wright said. “That public acknowledgement and reckoning with what they experienced is really important for, not only our members, but also for the families of the kids we care for. Really, this is an important step and one that's quite necessary in order for us to move forward.”
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