No Result
View All Results
Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Results
Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
Reserve & National Guard

Meet the Medical Reserve Corps doctor who established new inoculation approach for smallpox vaccine

Alexandra Vollman
by Alexandra Vollman
February 27, 2023
Vaccinating the poor of New York City against smallpox in 1872. In 1863, mass production of smallpox vaccine was developed, allowing for broad immunization of North American and European populations.

Vaccinating the poor of New York City against smallpox in 1872. In 1863, mass production of smallpox vaccine was developed, allowing for broad immunization of North American and European populations.

A World War I veteran and member of the Medical Reserve Corps is credited with developing an approach to administering the smallpox vaccine that more than quadrupled its efficacy.

Louis T. Wright established the intradermal method – meaning the inoculation occurs within or between layers of skin. According to “Black Surgeons and Surgery in America,” edited by Dr. Don K. Nakayama, the difference between the previous method and Wright’s approach was stark — “a 70% take rate compared with 8%.”

“Because of him soldiers were effectively inoculated,” Nakayama told Reserve + National Guard Magazine. “He learned how to do it correctly because he had a good medical education [at Harvard].”

At that time, Black medical students were rarely admitted to schools other than Meharry or Howard. Wright, however, was part of the less than 15% of Black physicians who had graduated from a “white” medical school as of 1950. But his journey hadn’t been easy.

In 1911, as a young, aspiring physician, Wright walked into the Harvard Medical School dean’s office to interview for admission. Though the odds were against him, it was not in Wright’s nature to give up so easily.

“He had to persevere because there were some very powerful interests against him,” Nakayama told Reserve + National Guard Magazine.

RELATED: The Fighting 8th, National Guard’s first all-Black unit, seen as ‘yardstick for achieving full equality’

According to “Black Surgeons and Surgery in America,” the dean had mistaken Wright’s degree as being from Clark University, the graduate research institution — not the freedmen’s school in Atlanta. When pressed by Wright, the dean agreed to admit the young man should he pass an on-the-spot examination.

Wright gained admission and graduated cum laude, as well as fourth in his class. Despite these achievements, he was denied internships at three different white hospitals, forcing him to complete an internship at the all-Black Freedmen’s Hospital in D.C.

But as the U.S. was thrust into World War I, Wright enlisted and was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps of the U.S. Army.

“I think the military gave him the opportunity to be held as an equal,” Nakayama told Reserve + National Guard Magazine. “They didn’t have conscripted Black military at that time. So he was the surgeon for all the soldiers.”

Born in La Grange, Georgia, in 1891, Wright was shaped by both the Jim Crow South and the Black men who helped raise him. His father, who died when Wright was 4 years old, was born a slave but became a doctor and eventually a preacher. Wright’s mother went on to marry William Fletcher Penn, also a doctor and the first Black medical graduate of Yale University.

From a young age, Wright was opposed to the idea of “separate but equal” — the rule that restricted access to white facilities, including medical and educational institutions, for Black Americans. In the desegregated Army, however, Wright discovered an easier path to success.

He quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Medical Reserve Corps, and despite not being promoted to captain until after his discharge — when he also received a Purple Heart — Wright was acknowledged for his abilities as a surgeon.

 “He was so effective in the western front for the American Expeditionary Forces that he was Surgeon in Charge in everything but name [at his base hospital in France],” Nakayama told Reserve + National Guard Magazine.

But Wright is best known for his civil and social accomplishments – among them being credited with shaping the integration of U.S. medicine.

In a little over two decades following the war, he went from being the first Black physician appointed to the staff of Harlem Hospital (or any city hospital, for that matter) to serving as its director of surgery and, subsequently, president of the hospital’s medical board, according to the book “Black Pioneers of Science and Invention,” written by Louis Haber.

Through his work at Harlem Hospital and with the NAACP, of which he’d been an active member since 1917, Wright fought back against the medical establishment, opposing the creation of separate medical and educational facilities.

Believing the American Medical Association (AMA) was responsible for perpetuating many of the inequalities in medical care, Wright often spoke out against the organization. Haber wrote in “Black Pioneers of Science and Invention,” that Wright once stated the AMA “demonstrated as much interest in the health of the Negro as Hitler has in the health of the Jew.”

Though he died at the age of 61 in 1952 — the result of complications from being gassed during the war — Wright’s accomplishments were many.

“With a commanding personality and holding key positions in both medicine and racial politics, he shaped the integration of U.S. medicine,” “Black Surgeons and Surgery in America” reads. “His efforts came to fruition 12 years after his death, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race in all public and federally supported facilities, including hospitals and medical schools.”

Read comments
Tags: Louis T. WrightMedical Reserve CorpsSmallpoxSmallpox vaccineWorld War I
Alexandra Vollman

Alexandra Vollman

Alexandra Vollman has been writing and telling stories since she first fell in love with journalism as a teenager. In addition to Reserve + National Guard Magazine, she regularly writes about architecture and design for Design STL magazine and about the outdoors and conservation for her website ModernConservationist.com. Her greatest interest, however, is telling the stories of good, hardworking, everyday people. Most of the time, you can find her telling the human stories behind brands, as she strives to help companies and organizations build authentic, meaningful connections with audiences through her storytelling agency Anecdote. Alexandra has a bachelor's degree in media communications from Webster University and a master’s degree in writing and publishing from DePaul University. She lives near St. Louis with her husband, two children and their dog.

Related Posts

The fall of Saigon: How a young boy fled Vietnam and became a US Marine

by Jenna Biter
1 week ago
0
fall of saigon

Nine days before North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon on April 30, 1975, a 10-year-old boy and his family fled the...

Read more

Ugandan immigrant escapes dictatorship, finds rehabilitation in Air Force

by Kari Williams
5 months ago
0
Air Force service

Ivan Edwards lived under a dictatorship in Kampala, Uganda, but found a new life in the U.S. and through Air...

Read more

Army reservist co-hosts new HISTORY Channel series probing top military mysteries

by Crystal Kupper
1 year ago
0
Combat veterans Ronnie Adkins and Rudy Reyes. Photo courtesy of The HISTORY Channel

A pair of combat veterans are combining 20 years of military experience into a new military-themed TV show on “The...

Read more

USS Pueblo survivors advocate for victims of state-sponsored terrorism 

by Kari Williams
1 year ago
0
USS Pueblo

Rick Rogala was only 19 years old when he became a prisoner of war. One of 83 crewmen aboard the...

Read more

Army Reserve nurse traces family lineage of military service

by Rick Stedman
1 year ago
0
Melissa Novotny (left) pictured with fellow soldiers.

Melissa Novotny waited out a two-year application process to become a critical care nurse in the Army Reserve. Once being...

Read more

Army Guard medics with next-generation training apply skills to save the day

by National Guard
2 years ago
0
army guard medics

Army Guard medics in South Carolina receive next-generation training, which has been applied in real-world situations to save the day.

Read more

Let's get social

The RNG Drill

News delivered directly to your inbox

Let's connect!

ABOUT US

  • OUR STORY
  • OUR TEAM
  • OUR WRITERS

MAGAZINE

  • GET PRINT
  • GET DIGITAL
  • GET THE NEWSLETTER

ADVERTISE

  • GET OUR MEDIA KIT
  • CFC/NONPROFITS

SUBMISSIONS

  • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
  • PITCH US

Never miss out on the latest stories.

© 2023 Reserve & National Guard by U.S. Military Publishing. Privacy Policy | Terms | Site by Swiss Commerce

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

No Result
View All Results
  • NEWS
  • YOUR CAREER
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • RECRUITING & RETENTION
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • TRANSITION
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • PARENTING
  • OFF DUTY
    • ENTERTAINMENT
    • TRAVEL
  • HEALTH
    • FITNESS
    • MEDICINE
    • MENTAL HEALTH
  • SPORTS
  • OPINION
  • HISTORY
  • MONEY
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • BENEFITS
  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
    • GET THE NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT US
    • MEET OUR TEAM
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • PITCH US
    • CONTACT

© 2024 Reserve & National Guard by U.S. Military Publishing. Site by SCBW

No Result
View All Results
  • NEWS
  • YOUR CAREER
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • RECRUITING & RETENTION
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • TRANSITION
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • PARENTING
  • OFF DUTY
    • ENTERTAINMENT
    • TRAVEL
  • HEALTH
    • FITNESS
    • MEDICINE
    • MENTAL HEALTH
  • SPORTS
  • OPINION
  • HISTORY
  • MONEY
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • BENEFITS
  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
    • GET THE NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT US
    • MEET OUR TEAM
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • PITCH US
    • CONTACT

© 2024 Reserve & National Guard by U.S. Military Publishing. Site by SCBW