Medicine is the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Over the past several centuries, medicine has become more advanced and has saved countless lives, but all groups of people have not benefited equally from these medical advances. From exploitation to neglect, African Americans have suffered due to medical racism. Medical racism is the systematic and wide-spread racism against a group of people within a medical system.

In this lesson, students will use primary and secondary sources to define medical racism, learn how racism has impacted medical treatment of African Americans in the United States, and explore the progress that has been made in regard to combatting medical racism.