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.