Air date: February 6, 2011

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Until the late 1960s, African American doctors were not permitted to belong to county medical associations.

And since it was those local associations that granted hospital privileges, African American physicians often were not permitted to admit patients to white-run hospitals in the south.

It wasn’t until 1968 that the American Medical Association was pressured to change this policy, in part by the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR).

Historian John Dittmer is the author of a book on that chapter of American history, called "The Good Doctors."

Today Dittmer tells Sound Medicine’s Dr. Eric Meslin that the MCHR was made up of volunteer doctors from the north who had their own version of a civil rights freedom ride.

Additional Resources:

• Watch a video interview with Dr. Dittmer and read review about the book, The Good Doctors, at Bloomsbury Press.