Taborian Hospital

This summer I am participating in the University of Mississippi Writing Project Summer Institute, affliated with the National Writing Project I recently visited the Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Ms when I attended the Mississippi Writing and Thinking Institute. I was inspired by the rich history, and I wrote a piece about it. Doing a little research, I saw that Bennie Thompson is working on a Taborian Hospital and Museum project to revive the hospital. Perhaps, you can contact Bennie Thompson like I did to get the ball rolling to reestablish its presence in the Mississippi Delta.

Here is the piece I wrote:

Wooden boards, black and deformed from the wear and tear of Mississippi heat and humidity, act as barriers shielding the world from a plethora of secrets, histories, deaths, and births of Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Ms. The loud booming of an eighteen wheeler on U.S. Highway 61 replicate the possible boom the hospital once knew. I want to wrap my mind around the phenomenal presence of this forty-two bed facility in Historic Mound Bayou.

If I pried open man-created barriers, would the crumbling walls scream the frustration caused by integration? Would the creaky floors whisper why Taborian could not compete with larger hospitals in the Mississippi Delta? Would the windows provide a peep-show into the prominent African- American hospital, which thrived during an unforgettable era of segregation? Would the ghosts of the medical personnel from Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee, surround me and suffocate my breathe to serve the community?

Taborian Hospital stands silently awaiting its resurrection. Two white rusting stair rails posses a lead-infested heart in the center. Perhaps the Knights and Daughters of Tabor smiled confidently between these symbols of love for photographs after the hospital’s dedication in 1942. Maybe family members congregated on the currently deteriorating, ant-dominated steps, as their family members lie on hospital beds beyond the now boarded-up doors. Did husbands lean nervously against these rails, waiting on the status of their newborn sons from world-famous healthcare professionsl during an era of Jim Crow and segregation?

Standing in its original spot, Taborian no longer functions as a Southern Mecca of Healthcare for African Americans. Listed on the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s Ten Most Endangered List of 2000, Taborian Hospital beckons me to relish in its unique and commanding presence. The boarded remnants protect the philosophy of the hospital’s first chief surgeon, Dr. T.R.M. Howard. Can you hear the creaking of the floor as he paced from room to room, checking on patients that only Taborian would admit? Do you see his freshly starched and immaculate white coat demanding an unbelievable air of respect and awe from Mound Bayou’s community and abroad?

A brewing Mississippi summer thunderstorm interrupted my visit. Walking back to my car, I spoke a solemn, “Good-bye.” Outside of a hospital, which a “Colored Only” door did not exist, Taborian Hospital spoke to my soul begging me to find a way to revive its memory, preserve its history, and celebrate its victory. My reply was “I WILL WRITE.”