Medicine: Out of the Basement

When Meharry Medical College in Nashville graduated its first five students in 1877, its classrooms were in a basement and its academic standing was, if possible, even lower. This month, Meharry will graduate 97 Negro doctors and dentists—nearly half of all those going out into practice in the U.S. this year—and the school has long been rated "A" by the exacting standards of the A.M.A. Last week, in another graduation of a sort, Meharry's predominantly white trustees elected the school's first Negro president.

Harold Dadford West, 47, the new president, is no M.D. Born...

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