Meet Meta Christy, DO, the First Black Osteopathic Physician

Born in 1895, just over an hour north of Indianapolis, Dr. Christy is heralded as the first Black Osteopathy physician in the United States. She experienced significant illness and loss, including the death of four siblings and her father, all before the age of 10. She herself also suffered from periods of illness in her early-20s. Later, many wondered if it was those experiences that inspired her to become a doctor.

Medical School History

Dr. Christy ultimately graduated from Philadelphia College of Infirmary and Osteopathy, now-named Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, in 1921. However, she began medical training in 1917 at the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy in Boston. MCO experienced a series of scandals and accreditation issues; it is hypothesized that Dr. Christy would have realized the reputational risks and ultimately transferred to PICO.

Starting in Indiana

She returned to the town of Kokomo, Ind., and lived with her mother and practiced until 1924. There, she set up a private proactive in their home. Arminda Christy, Dr. Christy’s mother, died from acute suppurative appendicitis and localized peritonitis. Unable to save her mother, the profound loss drove her to move to New Mexico near her last surviving sibling.

A New Home in New Mexico

Dr. Christy’s brother, LaRoy, lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico (not to be confused with the now-famous Las Vegas, Nevada). It had a small African American community with no physician to care for them, so LaRoy convinced his sister to set up a medical practice. She passed the New Mexico osteopathic boards in 1929 and was admitted to practice in the state.

Dr. Christy boarded in a home, similar to a duplex, where the owners lived in one part and she in another. She paid $20 a month in rent and established her medical clinic inside her home. The neighborhood was “predominately poor, white, working class” and historian Joseph Lordi noted, “Dr. Christy’s medical practice catered to African Americans who, because of discrimination at that time, were denied service at the local hospital. There were about 100 African Americans and no one to treat them. She also treated white patients.”

She served the area for nearly four decades and in the 1956 was presented with the distinguished service award by the New Mexico Osteopathic Medical Association. In 2010, 42 years after her death, the state unveiled a historic marker – located outside the Las Vegas courthouse and museum – to honor Dr. Christy as part of the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative.