Did Flexner's Report condemn black medical schools? Not so, in my opinion.

I invited Kathryn L. Moseley, MD to write the editorial appearing on the pages before this one as to whether she thought that the original Flexner Report was unduly harsh on the existing black medical schools. I invited her to choose whether she wanted to write the "pro" or "con" editorial, and that I would write the opposite piece for the sake of a presentation-although I might not necessarily believe in the position on which I was to write. She elected to write the "yes, it was harmful" piece, and I had to assume the editor's burden. In fact, as I began doing my internal soul searching for answers, I began to believe that the original Flexner Report actually helped preserve two black schools--Howard and Meharry--both of which might well have closed along with the other five schools scattered across the southeast, absent Flexner's direct and tangential support.