Conclusion (1981-2002, Section 12)
In little more than a century, Houston’s African-American physicians, like the city in which they lived, had made great strides. While remaining true to their mission of patient care, these physicians often acted autonomously to create health institutions and businesses. Throughout the century, they pushed for and in many ways achieved equal access and equal opportunities for medical education and professional achievement.
In many ways, theirs is the story of all physicians. Over the course of the twentieth century, individual doctors worked long hours, tended to sick and injure patients. They kept pace with and participated in the advancements that brought medicine into the modern age.
By virtue of their education and the autonomous institutions they established, African-Americans were given the opportunity to act as community leaders. They embraced this opportunity, and in the twentieth century, improved the lives of their patients, their community, and their city.
Perhaps their beginnings were humble, as Dr. J. Edward Perry professed in 1947, but these physicians surely did “bear fruit for their race.”