MOUND BAYOU, Miss. (WJTV) – Let’s take a history trip on a medical journey to the Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou. The facility opened back in 1942 where the entire staff, including doctors and nurses were Black.

The Taborian Hospital was built by the International Order of 12 Knights and Daughters of Tabor, a Black fraternal organization. The Chief Grand Mentor for the Mississippi Jurisdiction, P.M Smith, was inspired by the state’s first hospital for Black patients, the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital in Yazoo City that opened in 1928. Smith was determined to build a similar hospital in the Mississippi Delta.

“So, he went to his organization and said, ‘This is my strategic plan. Let’s do this.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So, he was undaunted. He said, ‘We’re going to continue to go back and ask this organization.’ After about ten years, they said, ‘Okay,'” said Pamela Junior, director of the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Member donations funded the $100,000 in construction costs. On February 1, 1942, the Taborian Hospital opened its doors in Mound Bayou. Black Mississippians were often denied adequate access to healthcare, which is why Smith pushed for the new hospital.

“There’s this story of this six-year-old who was in the backyard burning trash, and her dress caught on fire, and she was burned terribly, and her parents took her to a hospital outside of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. At this time, they were told to go into the basement where it was very dark, it was very cold, and wait on the doctor to come down after seeing his patient. So, think about this six-year-old who was burned very badly and waiting. She died,” said Junior.

The Taborian Hospital had 42 beds and two operating rooms, where tens of thousands of Black patients were treated from all over the country.

“During that time, people were coming from everywhere to see the doctor. And my mother was here, my mother was one of the nurses,” said Haneefah Uhammad.

Members of the Knights and Daughters of Tabor were able to pay into a system similar to today’s health maintenance organizations. Members were guaranteed a certain number of annual doctor visits. Non-members were also treated for a higher cost.

“The organization, if they were members, they would have to go to see the doctor so many times a year. Not, because they were sick, but to provide them service to make sure they were staying healthy,” said Hermon Johnson, Sr.

Not only were patients able to get fair treatment, but many were also seeing representation in the medical field for the first time since it was an all-Black staff.

Dr. T.R.M. Howard was the Chief Surgeon at the Taborian Hospital for five years. Hermon Johnson, Sr., worked directly under Doctor Howard in the late 1940s and said keeping the doors open was always a challenge.

“They were saying that the rooms were too small and some other things. They were saying we had to increase and do better. They had hospitals in Shelby in worse shape run by white doctors, but they stayed open,” said Johnson.

The Taborian Hospital closed in 1983 due to a lack of funding. It was restored and reopened as an urgent care center in 2016 but closed again. With rural hospitals statewide still facing issues today, Mound Bayou residents hope to see the Taborian Hosptial open its doors again one day.

“It would be good if we could get this hospital back open again. But it’s good to see it’s still standing, and it’s being taken care of,” said Uhammad.