MSMA unveils new historical marker for site honoring segregation-era African American hospitals

A memorial site on the association’s Ridgeland campus is made up of reclaimed bricks from Jim Crow era African American hospitals across the state. The plaza was built to preserve the history of hospitals that served Black Mississippians when healthcare facilities were segregated, and a new historical marker for the site was unveiled on Thursday.

“The day's gonna come when none of us are gonna be here, but you know what's gonna be here? This marker is still going to be here blinking like a neon sign, telling people they need to read the history, telling people that they need to come and see the cornerstone from the hospital in Greenville,” Brother Rogers, a director at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, said. 

The cornerstone Rogers highlighted is the central feature of the plaza and belonged to Colored King's Daughters Hospital. The hospital was unique as the only facility of its type in the state founded by a Black charitable women's group.

For Mississippi State Epidemiologist Dr. Renita Dotson, the site reminds her of how many Black physicians came before  her and worked to serve the state's marginalized communities.

“This plaza reminds us that we have to be mindful of those who are most vulnerable among us and that we have a history of taking care of the most vulnerable and we cannot stop with that now,” Dotson said.

Greenville's Colored King's Daughters Hospital was demolished in 1971 and the site has become part of the Delta Health System campus.