Justice and Health: How the Affordable Care Act is Fulfilling the Dream

Time: Tue., October 29, 4:30 pm

Location: Juan Ramon Jimenez Room, Adele H. Stamp Student Union 

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream” speech, he describes the journey of black people from slavery to the promise of freedom. He said black people were given a "blank check" and the marchers were in Washington to demand payment. He also said that the people would "….not be satisfied until justice rolled down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream…” This forum will focus on how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is indeed making good on a portion of that "blank check".

The forum will be led by Dr. Stephen B. Thomas, Founding Director of the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity and Professor in the Department of Health Services Administration at the School of Public Health. Over the past 20 years, his scholarship has focused on building trust between minorities and the academic research community. Working with Dr. Sandra Crouse Quinn, their work contributed to justification for the presidential apology to the survivors of the US Public Health Service Study at Tuskegee (more commonly known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972), the longest non-therapeutic experiment on human beings in the history of medicine and public health). On May 16, 1997, Dr. Thomas was invited to the White House to witness President Bill Clinton deliver the formal apology to the eight remaining survivors of the Tuskegee study. Dr. Thomas believes that the ACA shines light on the long shadow cast by the Tuskegee Study and creates the conditions for a new beginning that points in the direction of Dr. King's dream of health equity for all Americas.

This event is free, and light refreshments will be served. This event is co-sponsored by the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity headquartered in the School of Public Health. For more information about the What Is Your Dream? programming series, click here.