- I'm Veronica Mohesky, and I'm here with Jody Sowell, President of the Missouri Historical Society.

And we're talking about a St.

Louis story that you may not be familiar with.

- If St.

Louis could introduce itself, it would say, "I am the place that trained "America's black doctors and nurses."

That story's about Homer G. Phillips Hospital.

Homer G. Phillips opens in 1937.

It is the hospital serving black St.

Louisans, important for this community, of course, but soon becomes important for the United States.

At one time, more than 50% of black doctors and nurses graduating from medical schools come to St.

Louis for the training program at Homer G. Phillips.

Such an amazing place.

It really trained generations of doctors and nurses.

And we have much of those items that speak to the Homer G. Phillips story in our collection, whether it be suits that were worn by doctors or instruments used by nurses, because we know how important it is to continue to tell this story, even if Homer G. Phillips is no longer around.

Thank you so much, Jody.

Thank you.

Let's take a look at the story.

Homer G. Phillips was born in Sedalia, Missouri in 1880.

And he arrived here in St.

Louis and he also served as a civil rights attorney representing people who were a part of the East St.

Louis race massacre.

Cecily Hunter is a public historian for the African American History Initiative at the Missouri Historical Society.

And he just was somebody who was beloved in the community and had so much impact here.

In the 1920s, it became clear to Phillips and others that St.

Louis' current hospital for African Americans was deficient.

Phillips worked with Mayor Henry Keel to get funds for a new hospital on a 1923 bond issue, which was ultimately approved by St.

Louis voters.

But it resulted in the decision to actually move forward with the hospital by 1933.

And so the doors would open by 1937 with Black people celebrating.

There was a parade.

It was a really a huge moment for St.

Louis's history in celebration of what will come out of this.

The hospital was built in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of The Ville.

But Phillips wanted the hospital to do more than just treat the community's ailments.

He wanted it to train Black doctors and nurses.

And so this space really became a place where Black medical professionals could come in, could specialize, could train, could serve, and could do so much within their own community.

But Phillips would not live to see the opening of the hospital.

1931 is when he was assassinated on his way to work.

And so, you know, ultimately, once the hospital opened up, it was determined that it would be best to name it in his honor because of his impact and because he was so revered here in St.

Louis.

revered here in St.

Louis.

His murder remains unsolved.

Many white people didn't like Phillips or the idea of city funds going to a Black hospital.

Despite the challenges, though, it opened as a teaching hospital in 1937.

The hospital not only provided employment, it also provided a perfect place for African Americans to receive treatment.

And they knew when they came in there, we would treat them like a person because they always taught us in training that you treat every patient as if it was one of your relatives.

Lois C. Jackson was born at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital in 1944.

She also graduated from its nursing school in 1963.

She's the second vice president of the Homer G. Phillips Nurses Alumni Incorporated, and she introduced me to two of her fellow members, Zenobia Thompson.

What year did you graduate?

1965.

And Richard W. White.

I graduated in 1968.

He was also in only the second class to allow male nurses at the hospital.

I loved it.

In my class, we had 67, and of course 66 of them were female.

And I ended up marrying one of them.

So it worked out well.

It worked out well, yeah.

They all worked at the hospital for varying times after graduating, too.

All three of the alumni said that Homer G. Phillips was a no-nonsense school.

Homer G. Phillips was a very strict school.

They meant business.

They were so strict.

We were wearing street clothes and they took us downtown somewhere to get these ugly-looking shoes.

Oh, they were ugly-looking.

They had the big, thick heel on them.

You had to wear those the first year.

You know, we had an operating room supervisor.

She had these sterile forceps, and if you handed the wrong instrument, you'd pop you across your knuckles.

They wanted you to be excellent.

You just couldn't be good.

You had to be excellent.

And that was a factor, you know, in terms of being an African-American, you know, institution.

You had to excel.

You had to be good.

- The discipline instilled on the student nurses and doctors helped give the hospital an excellent reputation.

- And so this hospital became just state-of-the-art in its ability, not only the professionals, but the medicine, the treatments.

So you have everything in between where these particular professionals are leading the way and leading the charge for this nation, for this country.

They were known throughout the world because even some of the doctors came from other different foreign countries.

Africa, I think Haiti, and some of the Asian women were even there.

Within 10 years of opening, roughly a third of America's Black doctors had trained at Homer G. Phillips.

And it was the largest school in the country for Black registered nurses.

Richard came to study at the hospital from Houston, Texas.

And when I saw the hospital, I was just overwhelmed.

You know, I saw this big, big, big, I hadn't ever seen a hospital that large before.

It's also important to note that Black students often weren't accepted in white medical and nursing schools.

In different hospitals that did have schools of nursing, they did not allow African Americans.

And if they did, they only allowed one per year.

Even here in St.

Louis, if you wanted to go to Barnes or Jewish or MoBAP, they all said one African American per year.

So even out of state, there were lots of states that didn't have schools of nursing for Black women.

So they wound up coming to St.

Louis.

But even with the high standards set for students at the hospital, the alumni have many fond memories too.

There was a little hamburger place called Billy Burke's, but you never announced that you were going to Billy Burke's because you did.

Everybody on the hallway would want, "Get me one, get me one."

And then sometimes we would make the elevator stop on purpose so we would be late for classes.

Oh my gosh.

We had to do something.

And besides being a school and large employer, it was also a community center.

As an African American, you didn't have that sense of pride outside of your community.

You know, you were pushed aside and you were considered inferior and you weren't as good as other folks.

So the pride that Homer G. Phillips gave to our community was like lifeblood.

Richard W. White, who worked in the emergency room, says it was an excellent place to go for any care, but specifically for trauma.

We were the number one trauma hospital.

We were fortunate to have a doctor say nothing stops bleeding but surgery, whether you shot or whether you cut.

People said if you get a stab wound or a gunshot, make sure you go to Homer Phillips.

But things began to change in the 1960s and '70s.

As the U.S.

was moving towards an integrated society, city leaders questioned whether St.

Louis needed the hospital.

In 1977, the hospital was defunded and had to downsize.

In 1979, it officially closed against the wishes of many people in the community.

- With that came protests, came police, came dogs, came you name it, right?

There was a real tension in the community around this hospital to make sure that it stayed open.

Richard was working at the hospital up until it closed.

They had a busload of people dressed in SWAT uniforms.

They had dogs.

They had the mounted police.

It struck a nerve as well as very, very sad that day because you knew that the Black people in the community were going to be deprived of medical care.

Zenobia Thompson credits the closure with sparking her health care activism.

Because I had been working at Barnes before I came back to work at Homer G. Phillips and Barnes was very, very racist.

Barnes sort of radicalized me.

And when I was at Homer G. Phillips, I came into the movement and the struggle.

Zenobia was involved with the Save Homer G. Phillips Committee, along with many other hospital employees and community members.

She says this actually prevented her from getting a job for a while after the hospital closed.

I was out of work, but then Congressman Clay and a friend of his got me a job.

At this point, hospitals were integrated, but African Americans didn't always receive the same level of care as white people did.

My sister was a teenager, and she was at what we used to call Big Barnes over there on Kingshighway.

She was a patient there with pneumonia, and I went to visit her, and she was in the basement.

They had the black patients down in the basement.

So when I went to visit her, there were pipes overhead that were leaking, and I thought if she has pneumonia, why is she in this little damp, ugly place?

And then I found out that the majority of the black patients were treated down there.

There's still a very crisis in healthcare.

Dr.

King once said that of all the disparities in this country when it comes to African Americans, the healthcare situation is one of the most cruel.

And the data that exists is just unpalatable.

- The former hospital in The Ville is now a senior living center.

But around 2020, a medical facility was being built under the name Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital.

- We were shocked.

We were just shocked.

So then we applied for the copyright infringement.

- The facility was built on North Jefferson Avenue by Northside Regeneration, a company owned by developer Paul McKee.

Louis says the biggest problem was the use of Homer G. Phillips' name.

- So this is just like a slap in the face.

And there was no comparison because if you look at the picture of the real Homer G. Phillips Hospital, 600 beds, yes, we had four wings, we covered everything.

And anybody could come to the hospital for treatment.

You didn't have to say, "Well, I don't have insurance, "so if I go there, how am I gonna pay my bill?"

So we were just pretty upset with that.

The former nurses and other activists joined together to form the Change the Name Coalition.

Zenobia Thompson was a co-chair of the organization.

The group organized protests, worked with city officials, and filed a lawsuit against McKee and his corporation.

They requested that the hospital not use the Homer G. Phillips name.

But the corporation wouldn't comply.

Ultimately, a St.

Louis County judge dismissed the lawsuit in September 2024.

The nurses' alumni group attempted to appeal the decision without success.

But the building closed in March 2025.

It was then reopened by new owners and renamed.

We're just thankful that the name was changed and the building was closed.

Despite all the controversies, though, the original Homer G. Phillips Hospital is still a source of fond memories and joy for the nurses and many others.

I never have I seen a group of people from different expertise work for the one common goal like I saw them do.

I know we were the best at what we did at that time.

We're still here.

We might be small in number, but we're still here and we're still going to continue to protect and preserve our legacy.

So leave us alone.