Daniel John Hale Williams

Daniel John Hale Williams was a pioneering African American surgeon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for performing one of the world's first successful open-heart surgeries in 1893 to treat a stab wound to the chest, despite significant racial barriers. Williams also founded the Provident Hospital in Chicago, the first non-segregated hospital in the U.S., aiming to provide medical care to all, regardless of race. His work advanced medical techniques and promoted racial equality in healthcare, earning him recognition as a trailblazer in medicine.