Embedded Files
Segregation in America
Segregation in America
The fight for equal rights has lasted well over a century in North America. Legal segregation in the United States began with the Plessey vs. Ferguson Supreme Court decision, but so-called "Black Codes" existed in Southern states for decades to control the lives of African American men, women, and children (Thompson-Miller and Feagan 2018). Legal segregation through Jim Crow laws prevented the use of public hospitals, facilities and transportation, and the use of white-only public and private schools. "Separate but equal" was the slogan of the time, yet inequality was the foundation of discriminatory laws and treatment. Integration of public schools did not occur until the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education landmark ruling allowing African American youth to attend white schools. Dr. Bowman was raised pre-Brown and attended segregated schools; at 31 years old he was finally free to access all public facilities in Washington, D.C. (Oral History... 2021).
Discrimination in Medicine
Discrimination in Medicine
Racial discrimination in medicine and medical education has a long history. America developed two regulatory bodies for physicians in the mid-1800s, coinciding with the ratification of free slave rights: the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Medical Association (NMA) (Baker et al. 2008). The NMA was an integrated association created in response to the AMA’s refusal to recognize African American doctors well into the 20th century. Without AMA membership, the locations a medical professional could operate in were limited; Washington D.C. refused employment to non-members. The AMA’s power over the education of Black medical students was astounding. During a joint effort with Abraham Flexner, the AMA requested the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching close all African-American Medical Colleges except Howard University and Meharry Medical College. In 1910, the closures would have been catastrophic for the care of over 9.8 million Black Americans using segregated medical facilities. While the NMA advocated for the Civil Rights Movement, the AMA’s silence reinforced segregationist practices, refusing to make members sign oaths of non-discrimination based on race. It was not until four years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that the AMA finally amended its constitution to remove racist members.
While Dr. James E. Bowman was not directly involved with these organizations, their interactions during the 1940s played a large role in both the perpetuation and removal of segregated medical care. Dr. Bowman inadvertently became a beacon of integration during his medical residency as the first African American resident at St. Luke’s (In Memoriam... 2012), and the first at any major Chicago Hospital (Suarez-Diaz 2017).
Military Discrimination
Military Discrimination
During the World War II draft, the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) accepted African-American men into the medical, veterinary, and engineering programs (Taylor and Mullins 1974). The National Medical Association contributed to these efforts, having petitioned from 1940 to 1943 for the inclusion of African-American doctors in the military (Baker et al. 2008). Due to the segregated nature of the military, African-American applicants were only enrolled at Howard University or Meharry College, unless accepted into a non-segregated institution before the creation of the program (Taylor and Mullins 1974). Dr. Bowman was accepted into the first draft of the program, which contained 380 African-American men studying medicine.
Discrimination can be seen with the limiting of African-American enrollment in 1944 and the ending of African-American medical placements in 1945 (Taylor and Mullins 1974). The Medical Department claimed to have "a 10-year supply of replacements" and "could not justify extensive training" of African-Americans for service, as military hospitals were segregated and white soldiers retained the right to refuse treatment from Black staff.
Furthering discriminatory practice, in 1946 the Medical Corps and Surgeon General requested that all inactive medical officers, and medical students from the ASTP who had completed their residencies or were in active internships be returned to active duty (Taylor and Mullins 1974). Not all members were accepted into the Medical Corps; Dr. Bowman was discharged in 1946 and told the Department of Defense did not want black officers (Oral History... 2021; Suarez-Diaz 2017). Black professionals had their military careers restricted based solely on the racial divide of American policy.
Move to Iran
Move to Iran
In 1955, Dr. Bowman and his wife decided to move to Iran, where he accepted the position of Head of Pathology at Namazee Hospital (In Memoriam... 2012). He accredited this decision to the still segregationist United States, and the House Un-American Activities Committee (Oral History... 2021). Dr. Bowman had been investigated during his army career by the Federal Bureau of Investigation because his father-in-law had associations with Communist Party members (Oral History... 2021; Suarez-Diaz 2017).
Despite the negative forces contributing to the move, working in Iran marked a shift in his path toward a renowned research career. At Namazee Hospital, he became acquainted with the little-understood condition of Favism; he would go on to connect with the University of Chicago researchers studying G6PD deficiency (In Memoriam... 2012). Through investigating the underlying genetics of the condition, Dr. Bowman expanded his work to genetically and ethnically diverse populations.
Associations and Conferences
Associations and Conferences
Throughout his career, Dr. Bowman has served on the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Working Group of the National Institute of Health (NIH)/DOE National Human Genome Program, and multiple other study sections and advisory groups regarding the topic of sickle hemoglobin and genetics. Dr. Bowman has also participated in conferences, where he openly, and repeatedly, spoke his opinions on topics that could be considered controversial.
In one NIH conference, Dr. Bowman had been warned and discouraged by NIH officials to use the word abortion during his discussion of sickle hemoglobin testing. However, he had refused, calling this complacency the "height of hypocrisy" as omitting the word abortion would be healthcare deception to deny counselling parents about future pregnancies with options of prenatal diagnosis (Bowman 1998). During a conference surrounding issues in human genetics, the speaker had also omitted the word abortion despite it already having been discussed. Dr. Bowman had called attention to this to the audience. However, the speaker and many members of the audience chose to feign ignorance rather than be straightforward out of fear of Anti-Choice individuals and groups jeopardizing genetic testing programs.
Page updated
Report abuse