Story Experience (1981-2002, Section 1)
Dr. Harris at age 6 (Courtesy of Dr. Harris)
The final decades of the twentieth century offered new opportunities for African-Americans. As a young boy growing up in San Antonio, Dr. Bernard Harris gazed at the night sky and dreamed of being an astronaut. Medicine became his path to space. Following his medical school graduation and a residency at the Mayo Clinic, one of the nation’s top medical facilities, Dr. Harris joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1995, he became the first African-American to walk in space.
Dr. Bernard Harris, 1995 (Courtesy of Dr. Harris)
As the United States finished the twentieth century and began a new one, other African-American physicians also reached lofty new heights in their careers, albeit here on earth. Like all physicians, they responded to the challenges of new technologies and drug therapies, the ascent of managed care, and other developments in medicine. In addition to excellence in their profession, Houston’s black doctors continued to assume leadership roles in the community, in government, and in professional organizations, both locally and nationally. In 2002, the Harris County Medical Society, which maintained a segregated membership until 1955, named Dr. William Fleming its hundredth president and its first African-American president.