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Good Samaritan Hospital: Facade
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Good Samaritan Hospital: Facade
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Description
Title
Good
Samaritan
Hospital
:
Facade
Creator(s)
Humphreys
,
Elizabeth
Moore
,
photographer
Date
2012-08-21
Property name
Good Samaritan Hospital
Date of construction
1964
Property type
Hospital
Community Name
Selma, Dallas County, AL
Description
Color
photograph
of the
south-facing
façade
,
photographer
facing
north
. The
hospital
is
a
four-story
,
modern
,
brutalism-influenced
building
in
brick
in and
concrete
. The
façade
is
divided
into
three
bays
. The
central
bay
is
clad
in
concrete
panels
.
It
is
half
a
story
taller
than the
bays
on
either
side
, and
it
projects
forward
slightly
from the
façade
. The
other
two
bays
are
red
brick
.
Each
concrete
panel
is
twice
as
tall
as
it
is
wide
, and the
central
bay
is
ten
panels
wide
and
10.5
panels
tall
. A
stylized
cross
made
of
greenish
concrete
sections
that
meet
in
peaks
dominates
the
façade
.
It
is
four
panels
wide
and
four
panels
tall
and
starts
two
panels
from the
left/west
edge
and
four
panels
from the
bottom
. The
first
level
of the
central
bay
features
a
concrete
awning
or
porch
that
is
eight
panels
wide
,
starting
from the
left/west
. The
roof
of the
awning
follows
a
squared
,
geometric
pattern
.
It
is
open
to the
front
and
split
into
three
flat-roofed
sections
separated
by
flat
vertical
sections
that
join
at the
base
with a
thicker
flat
section
,
creating
an
almost
sawtooth
pattern
with
wide
teeth
and
narrow
spaces
between
them. A
spotlight
aimed
at the
cross
is
perched
atop
the
middle
portion
. The
awning
is
supported
by
flat
,
rectangular
columns
with the
short
side
facing
the
façade
.
Access
the
building
is
through
a
glass
and
metal
double
door
with a
glazed
transom
and
narrow
sidelights
that
stretch
from the
floor
to the
top
of the
transom
. The
floor
of the
porch
is
two
shallow
steps
higher
than the
sidewalk
and
is
covered
in
terracotta-colored
tiles
. The
brick
bays
are
unadorned
except
for a
concrete
belt
that
divides
the
first
floor
from the
upper
floors
. The
west
end
features
metal
letters
reading
GOOD
SAMARITAN
HOSPITAL
CENTER
1107
VOEGLIN
AVENUE
. A
pair
of
large
,
lumpy
boxwoods
sits
in
front
of
either
brick
bay
. The
flat
side
pieces
of the
box-shaped
concrete
awnings
surrounding
the
windows
of the
top
three
floors
are
visible
from this
angle
. In the
foreground
,
telephone
and
electric
wires
cross
the
image
. On the
east
side
of the
building
, a
metal
fence
surrounds
a
parking
lot
. A
campaign
sign
for
Mayor
George
Evans
is
woven
into
part
of the
fence
.
Two
houses
and a
shuttered
laundromat
are
visible
beyond
the
fence
. The
east
side
of the
building
includes
a
mowed
yard
surrounded
by a
metal
railing
.
Portions
of
brick
planters
are
just
visible
. A
Church’s
Chicken
restaurant
is
also
visible
.
Historical Notes
The
extant
modernist
Good
Samaritan
Hospital
in
Selma
,
Alabama
was
built
in
1964
by the
Sisters
of
St
.
Joseph
and the
Edmundites
(Fathers
of
St
.
Edmund)
,
two
Catholic
missions
.
Originally
built
in
1922
,
Good
Samaritan
(or
Good
Sam
, as
it
is
known
locally)
was the
second
black
hospital
in the
city
,
after
the
Burwell
Infirmary
. The
hospital
was
originally
run
by the
Alabama
Baptist
Convention
under
the
administration
of
Mamie
Norris
, a
nurse
from the
Tuskegee
Institute
. The
Catholics
purchased
the
hospital
in
1944
,
built
a
new
facility
in
1947
,
which
was
replaced
by the
modern
facility
that
could
house
111
patients
in
1964
.
Good
Samaritan
was the
only
hospital
in the
six
surrounding
counties
open
to
African
Americans
.
Sister
Louis
Bertrand
established
Alabama’s
first
School
of
Practical
Nursing
at
Good
Samaritan
to
deal
with the
critical
nursing
shortage
. This was an
important
source
of
employment
and
training
to
black
women
(though
a
handful
of
black
men
also
completed
the
program)
,
who
had
few
other
such
opportunities
under
Jim
Crow
. The
hospital
was also an
important
source
of
employment
for
Selma’s
black
community
. The
Sisters
of
St
.
Joseph
took
part
in the
civil
rights
movement
in
Selma
in a
variety
of
ways
,
including
boycotting
grocery
stores
that
only
catered
to
whites
,
attending
mass
meetings
at
nearby
Tabernacle
Baptist
Church
, and
attempting
to
visit
black
youth
who
were
arrested
for
protesting
. This
did
little
to
endear
them to
Selma’s
white
community
,
who
referred
to them as the
“black
sisters,”
and
earned
the
attention
of the
local
chapter
of the
Ku
Klux
Klan
(KKK)
. The
building
also
functioned
as a
center
of
community
,
hosting
the
Selma
Literacy
Project
, an
effort
of the
Dallas
County
Voters
League
and the
Student
Nonviolent
Coordinating
Committee
(SNCC)
to
prepare
potential
black
voters
for the
literacy
test
required
in
order
to
register
to
vote
.
Good
Samaritan
was
where
victims
of
racially
motivated
violence
and
police
shootings
went
for
care
.
Jimmie
Lee
Jackson
, a
civil
rights
activist
in
nearby
Marion
(Perry
County)
,
Alabama
was
brought
to
Good
Sam
for
treatment
after
being
beaten
by
troopers
and
shot
by
Alabama
State
Trooper
James
Bonard
Fowler
.
Jackson’s
death
from his
injuries
inspired
James
Bevel
of the
Southern
Christian
Leadership
Conference
to
plan
the
Selma
to
Montgomery
Marches
that
included
both
Bloody
Sunday
and the
successful
March
to
Montgomery
in
March
1965
.
Marchers
injured
in
Bloody
Sunday
were also
brought
to
Good
Sam
for
treatment
.
Though
the
sisters
could
not
march
by
order
of the
bishop
, they
opened
the
hospital
and
convent
as
meeting
and
rest
places
for the
demonstrators
who
poured
into
Selma
from
across
the
country
.
After
1965
,
Good
Samaritan
began
to
struggle
as
white
hospitals
were
forced
to
open
their
doors
to
black
patients
, and
white
doctors
and
black
patients
began
seeking
out
care
at the
better-equipped
(and
better
paying)
formerly
white
facilities
. In
1972
, the
Sisters
of
St
.
Joseph
withdrew
from
Good
Samaritan
Hospital
,
citing
worsening
conditions
,
poor
finances
, and a
lack
of
sufficient
staff
.
African
American
leaders
took
over
, with
John
Crear
as
administrator
and
Dr
.
Charles
Lett
as
medical
chief
. They
won
a
grant
for
research
on
rural
health
,
which
led
to the
establishment
of the
Rural
Health
Medical
Program
,
which
allowed
Good
Samaritan
to
play
a
key
role
in
providing
education
and
health
care
to the
rural
communities
of
Dallas
,
Perry
,
Wilcox
, and
Lowndes
Counties
. By
1983
,
however
, the
poverty
of the
surrounding
areas
overwhelmed
the
hospital’s
precarious
finances
, and
Good
Samaritan
was
forced
to
close
its
doors
. In
2016
,
Mayor
George
Evans
announced
an
effort
to
reopen
the
hospital
as a
medical
center
with
space
for a
museum
to
acknowledge
the
facility’s
key
role
in the
voting
rights
movement
.
Collection Name
Southern History Documentary Projects
Subject-LCSH
Civil rights -- United States
Clergy
Historic buildings
Women
Type
Still image
Genre
Photograph
Contributing Institution
Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University
Copyright status
Copyright of the Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University
Conditions for use
Reproduction permitted for non-profit educational and research purposes only.
Digital Publisher
Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
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