Daniel Hale Williams Performs First Successful Open-Heart Surgery

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a Black surgeon in Chicago, performed what is widely recognized as the first successful open-heart surgery on July 9, 1893, repairing a stab wound to the pericardium of James Cornish, who survived. Williams had founded Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891 — the first interracial hospital in the US and the first to have a Black nursing training program.