The National Medical Association, founded in 1895, is the nation’s oldest and largest professional and scientific organization of African American physicians. It was founded at a time when the American Medical Association refused to allow black physicians as members and was restricted to "whites only membership". Black doctors who sought membership were repeatedly denied. In fact, the AMA did not allow black physicians as members until the 1960s. " The NMA was created by and for Black doctors and health professionals who found it necessary to establish their own medical societies and hospitals. Conceived in no spirit of racial exclusiveness, fostering no ethnic antagonisms, but born out of the exigency of the American environment, the NMA extended equal rights and privileges to all physicians" I gave my first presentation at this conference when I was a baby dermatology resident. This meeting always feels like a family reunion and is an opportunity to see old friends, meet new ones and focus on the ways in which we, as black physicians can impact the health disparities in this country that plague our health system and are evident across every medical specialty Not critical race theory, just American history. #nma #blackdoctorsmatter #boardcertifieddermatologist #drbrookederm #joylaskin #skincareforrunners #atlanta #blackdermatologist #skinofcolor #blackhistoryfacts