African-American physician Thomas C. Unthank was born January 22, 1866, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He enrolled at Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., in 1894. After his graduation in 1898, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and opened Lange Hospital.In 1903 a devastating flood hit Kansas City. Hundreds of people were injured or sick, and all hospitals were overcrowded with the wounded. Convention Hall in downtown Kansas City became a makeshift hospital. The building was divided into sections, with one area exclusively for minorities. Dr. Unthank was called upon to care for those victims. As a result of the flood crisis, Dr. Unthank began a crusade to develop a municipal hospital solely to serve the minority community. White physicians and city leaders showed little interest in his proposal, but Dr. Unthank eventually overcame the indifference and prejudice shown by city officials and the white medical community.
Dr. Unthank persuaded the city to allow the old General Hospital to become the "colored division" when white patients were moved to a new, modern facility in 1908. With Dr. S.H. Thompson, he co-founded Douglass Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas. The building was renamed General Hospital No. 2. It was one of the first public hospitals used exclusively for minority citizens in the United States. In 1930, a new hospital replaced the older structure.
Dr. Unthank spent much of his life helping his community. Through his efforts, a county home for elderly Black citizens was established and a park and recreational area for Black residents of Kansas City was built. Thomas C. Unthank, M.D., died on November 28, 1932, at the age of sixty-six.
Reference:
The African American Atlas
Black History and Culture: An Illustrated Reference
Molefi K. Asanta and Mark T. Mattson
New York: Macmillam USA, Simon & Schuster