Edgewood:

Abstract

On the first page of its 1947 anniversary program, Edgewood Sanatorium (see Figure 1) proudly claims to be the "first sanatorium in the United States to be used exclusively for tuberculosis Negros." Piedmont Sanatorium in Lynchburg, VA, made a similar declaration, even though it opened two years after Edgewood in 1917 and six years after the Wilson, NC, facility. Pickford Sanatorium in Southern Pines, NC, wins the title of being the first, having opened in 1899. This bit of trivia, however, does not take away from Edgewood's historical significance. As a segregated facility managed by a Black doctor, the sanitorium is simultaneously a celebration of broader access to healthcare for Black Delawareans and a representation of the disastrous impact of racism in healthcare.