Trailblazing Dr. James Sistrunk opened Broward’s initial Black healthcare facility

Trailblazing Dr. James Sistrunk opened Broward’s initial Black healthcare facility


FORT LAUDERDALE – On a sunny afternoon, Broward indigenous Ezra Baldwin was shooting hoops at the YMCA on Sistrunk Boulevard, when Jim Berry posed this issue to him.

“Sistrunk Boulevard, what do you know about the person it really is named right after,” he questioned.

“I’m not as well positive who it truly is named just after to be trustworthy with you,” replied Baldwin.

The foyer of the YMCA provides the remedy.

James Franklin Sistrunk was Broward’s to start with Black doctor. He delivered extra than five thousand toddlers. He also served supply some thing else, Broward’s very first Black clinic, a little something that was desired at the time.

“The white physicians did not want to work on Black individuals,” mentioned historian Dennis Davis.

Provident Clinic opened in 1938, fueled by Black anger soon after a farm truck carrying dozens of Black staff overturned in the vicinity of a whites-only medical center.

“They were handled outside the house of the hospital, but have been not authorized in the healthcare facility,” asked Berry.

“They have been not allowed in the hospital and the health professionals would not function on them,” claimed Davis.

Fellow Dr. Von D. Mizell joined Sistrunk in co-founding the medical center, together with businesswoman Sylvia Aldridge who led the fundraising energy.

“What can we find out now from what they did,” asked Berry.

“Innovation. Feel impressive and be lively,” stated Davis.

Provident Clinic remained open up until finally 1965, a year immediately after Sistrunk died. Now, the street where by it as soon as stood bears his identify.

On the web-site in which the hospital once handled Black people, stands the sparkling new YMCA which opened final 12 months.

“What would Dr. Sistrunk say if he was alive nowadays to see this,” requested Berry.

“He would possibly be so elated,” claimed Davis. “He would assume that this web-site, exactly where they were assisting to uplift the group as perfectly as give them health-related providers, that the factors they have in this “Y” now do that.”

The YMCA has become a group hub, with pursuits for youngsters and seniors. To Davis, its artwork and artifacts connect Black historical past in Broward with ancestral ties to people like the Dogon tribe from west Africa.

“The Dogon feel that five generations right before you produced the electrical power wherewithal that you have now. And you are developing the strength and wherewithal for five generations following you,” stated Davis.

This brings us back to Ezra Baldwin, the 19-yr-old psychology key at Broward University. On future excursions to the “Y”, Davis hopes Baldwin hears what the building’s partitions are telling him.

“Even when you might be walking by means of some of these halls, they have a lot of background up on the partitions. If you appear at it you will locate out about it and hopefully, it will encourage you to say that you require to be the 1 to decide up the following mantle and say what can I do to make the subsequent generation far better,” explained Davis.    



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