Community highlights
Council for Community Building & Belonging meeting
The Council for Community Building & Belonging will host our second meeting of the year on Tuesday, February 18th (5:30pm-6:30pm). Contact apmcbb@uw.edu if you would like to become a member or for more information. The Council is open to all members of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine.
CMFA Black History Month Networking Dinner
Join the Committee on Mentorship & Faculty Advocacy (CMFA) Black History Month Networking Dinner on Wednesday, February 25 (5:30pm-8pm). Please RSVP by February 20. UW NetID required.
Black History Month 2026
A century of Black history commemorations
2026 marks 100 years of Black History Month. It is also the 250th anniversary of United States of America’s Independence. With these milestones in mind, we explore Black history rooted within the rich history of America, celebrate the lives of those who worked to implement monumental changes, and honor the many sacrifices that made those changes possible.
Early contributions to anesthesiology
Did you know that there are oral histories of an enslaved African who utilized ether as an anesthetic and method of treating pain in the early 19th century? Because of a lack of records regarding enslaved peoples, his name has been lost. Later, in 1838 during a party where young white people were dosing themselves with ether for a laugh, the guests pinned an enslaved young man down and held a cloth over his face until he lost consciousness. The hosts, fearing that they’d killed the 17-year-old, called for a doctor who was able to rouse him. This incident was later noted by a surgeon in Athens, GA, Dr. Crawford Williamson Long.
Four years after the unnamed teenager was etherized, Long, dubbed by some “the father of anesthesiology,” performed his first surgery using sulfuric ether as an anesthetic. He performed several surgeries this way, including the amputation of an infected toe from an enslaved man. Although these are just a few stories in a long history of Black contributions to medicine, both willingly and not, Black Americans were integral to the discovery and use of early anesthetics and the impact they had on future advances (Lewis, 1931). As anesthesiology providers, it’s integral for us to understand the history of our field and the contributions made by African Americans.
More information, including local Black History Month resources, can be found at the Office of Healthcare Equity’s Black History Month page.