Early Black Doctors in South Africa

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	Early Black Doctors in South Africa
Author:	Digby, Anne
Year:	2005
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	46
Issue:	3
Period:	November
Pages:	427-454
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	doctors Black people medical education biography Health and Nutrition History and Exploration Labor and Employment Ethnic and Race Relations Education and Oral Traditions
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/4100639
Abstract:	The article adopts the approach of a group biography in discussing the careers and ambitions of early black South African doctors, selecting both those trained abroad, and the first cohorts trained within South Africa who graduated at the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand from 1945-1946. It focuses on the ambiguities involved, by looking at tensions between professional altruism and entrepreneurialism in pursuing a medical career, as well as that between self-interest and selflessness in attempting to balance the requirements of a medical practice against those involved in political leadership. The paper highlights the significance of the political leadership given by black doctors in the mid-twentieth century and indicates the price paid for this in loss of medical resources under the apartheid regime. Two annexes provide original data on the medical and political contributions of individuals. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]