Narrative
Zenobia Thompson, a nurse at Homer G. Phillips Hospital, became a leader in the effort to keep the hospital from closing in 1977. Homer G. Phillips Hospital was the only hospital for black patients in St. Louis during segregation and still cared for primarily black patients after desegregation. It was also the first black teaching hospital west of the Mississippi river and by 1961 had taught that most black doctors and nurses in the world. Thompson organized campaigns to keep the hospital open, but despite her efforts, it was closed in 1979. Thompson continued her activism after the hospital’s closure and in 2019 was awarded the Lifetime Achiever in Healthcare Award and the Martin Luther King Award for her efforts.
Audio