Sydney Bild and Rachael Bild

00:03 My name is Rachel build. I'm 36. Today is August 24th, 2013. We are at the Chicago Cultural Center, and I'm here to talk with my grandfather.

00:18 And my name is Sydney build build 91 years old.

00:29 And

00:32 Today's date is

00:38 August

00:40 24th

00:44 2113

00:49 2113 you've transported us to the Future 2 0 1 3 0 2 0 1 3

01:11 And I'm here to the scuss my memory of the past with my granddaughter.

01:23 Rachel all right.

01:27 So

01:31 I'm I'm not going to really worry too much about keeping things in like order of when they happened at the Sara Lee, but I really wanted to ask you given

01:45 Everything that's going on right now about you know, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and you know, all of these examples of racial discrimination that we've been, you know, I think inundated with recently with the Trayvon Martin case and all this kind of stuff. So I wanted to ask you about your experiences with us segregation in Chicago and especially with discrimination in hospitals.

02:19 Well

02:24 Maya

02:27 My feeling is a

02:30 There's been an enormous transformation has taken place in Chicago in Chicago that I you I remember as a boy. Was that of a

02:44 Living in a city which was completely compartmentalised.

02:53 That wherever

02:56 Every every person in Chicago had their own community based on their ethnicity. It was originally upheld and if people moved out of the neighborhood that they had been living in and he had better be careful. What neighborhood to which they would move never number of Jewish communities in Chicago.

03:24 That I lived in as a child and then later on.

03:31 I spend most of my time.

03:34 And in one of them, which was West Rogers Park.

03:40 And I know it was a community which was

03:47 In which we were virtually. All right. I thought we were the only Jewish Family living from miles around that probably wasn't completely true that it was true that there were only a few Jewish families that the living in the community and we were very much aware of this.

04:10 The formerly with lives in Albany Park and that pushes another Jewish community. So you have the feeling and a lot of conveyed that people moved very carefully it from one Community to another so as not to end up in the community to which they would not be welcome and the city was

04:35 So arranged

04:37 I got to remember Jewish communities at a time.

04:41 But West Rogers Park wasn't one of them why we moved there. I'm not I'm not exactly certain accepting. My folks saw the opportunity to buy a home.

04:52 And put money down before the roof fell in which that being the Great Depression and after living in us for three about three months and West Rogers Park. My dad lost his job. And from then on until World War II was

05:14 Employed off and on

05:17 Without a great deal of stability as a family.

05:25 Well, let's talk about World War II then let's talk about World War II for a second then so first started working as a medic right you had that experience in that p o w camp.

05:47 My under

05:52 Information of what I knew about medicine that came primarily from the couple of uncles who are doctors and I knew what kind of existence they had and my but I had no intention of becoming a physician.

06:10 My mother wanted me to be a lawyer and I told you a complete it sort of repeated that Mantra pre-law in high school and went to write Junior College with the idea of taking courses that would lead to law school and indeed. I did enter Law School in the evening evening course at DePaul University.

06:47 And

06:49 Then I

06:51 I became disaffected with the idea of becoming a lawyer exactly why I realized it was primarily my mother's.

07:01 Notion that I should be a lawyer and

07:05 I saw it a way out and that was to join the service join the Army.

07:13 As I did so without my folks being consulted. I told them that I joined and that was at the service and now

07:28 I believe it was March or April of 1942.

07:34 As good as I took some training.

07:38 And Communications at the outside of the actual Duty and did the did so I took some training in Electro magnetics and Communication Service.

08:02 Before I actually enter the Army formally and in March of of 43.

08:10 I was inducted into the service.

08:15 And went to Camp Crowder.

08:20 Amazura

08:23 For my signal for training and after that

08:28 Enormous number of further training and Communications and electronics and

08:40 That's shiny as a

08:46 Let's am I taking you core courses while I was in the service under North Dakota State College and the University of Iowa.

09:02 For about four months after that. I went back into the service in the signal Corps did to take more training and

09:14 FM radio repair

09:21 Meanwhile do World War II is proceeding without me.

09:29 You you did all of this other training instead of going into active.

09:36 Initially

09:38 I was at the complete disposal to serve others of the army that tell you what to do if I found myself.

09:49 Taking training for which I was enjoying. I found a very interesting but I couldn't see what weather it had to do with winning the war but mine was not to question why my with somebody to follow orders and that's what I did. So we all did

10:14 Like that kind of changed you begin to question why yes, I did and eventually.

10:25 I was

10:31 I was interested in Tuesday into the Infantry.

10:38 And

10:40 Was about to go overseas after having infantry training and

10:50 Learning to qualify I qualified on the number of weapons.

10:58 Enfield rifle

11:04 And

11:06 Even the man machine gun Tom Thompson submachine gun

11:15 And the dimensions of the weapon called it that carbine which was it repeating and repeating rifle.

11:26 Admitted to the hospital and

11:33 90 1940

11:38 1942 with mobile swollen legs and swollen feet with big blisters running all the way to my knees. And I thought I had some jungle Rodger or something and I was there for about 4 weeks soaking my feet in penicillin solution.

12:01 Until the blood the blood tubes and piercing the Bloods with a needle to get rid of them. And at the end of that time we finally resolved and I was discharged to rehab and in what was it? What was the cause of that that whole weather turned out that I was apparently something called tincture of benzoin, which is a chemical that the doctor refused to make tape.

12:36 Adhesive tape stick to you and I have had my my feet all wrapped up and tape so I could so I could put the swelling down from marching and I've had a awful lot of Julie drill activity in marching.

12:54 I was a good marching. They were wrapping your feet up so that you'd be ready to go to ship out and it gave you this horrible allergic reaction that landed you in the hospital. That's that's right. Exactly. Right and when I got out of bed changed my Mo from infantry to the medical for

13:17 Because apparently qualified for service in the medical car and I was put in charge of as well as a private first class. I was in charge of

13:40 Apparently preparing soldiers for circumcision

13:46 Weather Vallejo

13:50 Guys are dying overseas and preparing people for circumcision, but the Army was very good for that. Very word.

14:10 They were very worried about soldiers having some problem with their if they were not circumcised and they were in battle.

14:22 That's something that happened that would interfere with the functioning as an infantry Soldier if they had not been so well, so I always prepare them for the circumcision preparing novocaine solution for the doctors to give them injection and then they would be circumcised.

15:00 After I had my

15:03 My training has

15:10 In the matter in the medical car

15:19 I was a Subaru. I took training and in the University of Iowa, North Dakota State College.

15:32 Transfer me to a pre-medical program for medical school and I was there for four months and I had an argument with another Soldier and I

15:48 Beat up on him and he was a company snitch and his job was to report on soldiers who are not keeping time in March and turn people in and they get KP.

16:20 So they sent me back to the send me back to from the University of Iowa. I went back into infantry training and further training with repairing FM radios, and I qualify for that. But instead of my going out into the field to repair radios that were broken down. I was transferred to the to the Infantry itself for formal induction and

17:02 So there is there's a p o w camp in Louisiana and they they sent you there. I learned a little German because soldiers are we were guarding I was a medic in charge of the German pows and their health care.

17:30 Because of my ammo so icy.

17:35 I became interested in medicine at that point for the first time and after being there for about four months of the war was over.

17:51 And and I was transferred back to Camp Livingston Louisiana for discharge and after being put in charge of the equipment or a warehouse full of equipment, which I was supposed to guard. I got the words that I was I just charged it came through and I was sent back to, Illinois.

18:15 And lo and behold there was my discharge. This is it and I was just charging April I believe of 1940.

18:27 46

18:30 Is that when you headed off to medical school I have pre-med courses to take and I took those who dreads.

18:43 Lord knows I was trained enough is enough schooling the only medical school. That's the universal no Iran.

19:00 And while I was down at Illinois my pre-med they're finishing up my mess police and we found love we got married before I was admitted to medical school. He was taking a chance. Maybe I wouldn't get into medical school. If so, I don't know what we're going to do exactly.

19:25 How did you make Grandma tell that story?

19:29 She was attending a meeting of

19:36 Hey, Google.

19:43 In Canada, they had passed some laws.

19:48 Regarding

19:52 Medical insurance for the whole country and that started in Canada. One of the provinces that the whole nation should have health insurance at the time. The United States had no health insurance at all Blue Cross Blue Shield widespread.

20:15 And it was not available except it through your two people's jobs. So that some people who worked at health insurance is part of the benefits, but most did not and the so

20:32 They were discussing the Canadian system there and we Madison that was the rest was history.

20:45 There's some story about how

20:49 You were you were going to leave Champaign-Urbana and she said she would be studying in the stacks or something and you had to like get into the stacks to go find her but my misremembering that she was.

21:07 I proposed to her and over the Christmas holidays and we had met secretly and she was a graduate student. She was finishing up her master's degree in Psychology and

21:27 Over the Christmas holidays. I called her and champagne and said we should get married.

21:38 A pause for a little bit on the phone that okay, and then we got married.

21:52 And they are April the

21:56 Amen, May 28th. We got married first, May 29th, May 30th.

22:03 Summer vitamins are just before June and then we got married again. It doubles with a Baptist ceremony make a Mary then and it was a Jewish rabbi and Sheila in June, June 15th.

22:22 So we had two marriages satisfying both sets of parents were broken up because she wasn't Jewish rabbi was okay with marrying you even though she didn't convert.

22:43 So so you you wouldn't know ya and Chicago itself was a totally said it was considered the most segregated City in the North and the black population in Chicago lived on the south side and Charlie very much kept to herself.

23:23 And

23:26 Why black people rarely came to downtown the loop are they stayed on the Southside? They have their own their own stores that ruined the housing and was usually pretty miserable. It was a poor population of blacks that come up from the in from the south looking for work after after the war was over.

23:49 And they found work in the steel mills. And so they lived on the Southside prettiest black just in the move anywhere and how did you feel when you noticed this like you hadn't realized it before and you grew up in Chicago because I did have some contact with some black soldiers when I was in the in the hospital and made some very close friends.

24:23 Secretly we didn't unfortunately didn't keep contact with each other, but I didn't know some guys who were in the hospital at one of whom was a boxer and we gave very you told me a little bit about boxing with a

24:43 I getting killed.

24:45 Fill up again. Pretty Adept at boxing

24:52 A medical school that was we had a Class of 73 and the freshman class and how many I'm a blast doing. You think we have one.

25:07 And that was an organization which was a recognized organization called The Association of insurance and medical students, which was rather Progressive and they took the position that discrimination and medicine was wrong and that 70 should be done about it. And we were the people who going to do with we were Fearless since we were recognized as a meetings and we did our best to educate ourselves and other people about what was going on in healthcare, Chicago.

25:51 Had at the time that I graduated from medical school had about I think the figure was 79 hospitals.

26:02 What are the wonderful does County Hospital which is open to all and many black people went there when they were sick in the hospital. Was there a hospital for the most part on the private side? That was another hospital called Provident Hospital which was all entirely black staffed and it was considered a good hospital. But most black people went to didn't have insurance. They went to county hospital. We didn't charge if you didn't have money. You still got in there.

26:42 And

26:44 River Rock

26:50 I was called in by the dean on a number of occasions for protesting the kind of care that blacks got even though while under our care we were aware of the fact that

27:08 When did the number of hospitals that are available? We're Limited in Chicago.

27:17 Well, I trained at County Hospital which was considered a asking for training.

27:26 And

27:29 We Are Family

27:32 Oh and Parks grew up living in public housing. We're eligible for public housing because we didn't have any I haven't much of an income.

27:45 And we lived in Dearborn homes, which was the 31st and State Street, Dearborn.

27:55 And

27:58 I kissed two of our kids were born there when our third was born. We had to move out.

28:04 Every movie to Hyde Park

28:10 And an apartment buildings are

28:15 At the time

28:17 Most most black people lives on the south side and they lived north of

28:26 Of 47th Street

28:31 Of the dividing line white people on one side box on the other.

28:40 I was on Ark transfer.

28:45 Went to schools where we fought for them to be integrated and there was a regarding housing.

28:59 And integrated housing.

29:03 And we are kids participated in marches or niece was very active in the PGA and

29:12 We created we are very active in a lot of fighting for integrated housing.

29:25 So you're fighting for integrated housing and meanwhile at what point were you able to help integrate the hospitals?

29:34 Well

29:38 In order to practice properly in the I needed that have a hospital affiliation the hospital like people and I had to make friends with a lot of black Physicians and educating for

30:01 Forever and then mission 2

30:05 Staff admission to hospitals

30:09 Is that one of the organization's was the Chicago committee to end discrimination in Chicago this medical institutions that CD in CMI?

30:22 It was a very important organization because black Physicians could not get on the staff of of any other.

30:34 Hospital if the room Private Practice

30:37 And the American Medical Association did not admit blacks positions to his membership in Chicago. They had their own Society their own Medical Society.

30:59 What it what happened was?

31:02 Black Physicians eventually sued the AMA because they found out that the AMA had seen to it that positions if you wanted to be on the hospital staff had to be a member of the AMA and down south. They were not allowed to join the American Medical Association in any other City.

31:33 In Chicago, it was the same way until day in order to get on the staff of the hospital. They were just kept off they sued and they won they were about to win their sewage repair when the AMA.

31:49 Collapsed on this issue and they told everyone in Chicago friend since that. They should admit black Physicians there. They do the Chicago Medical Society and also they should have met them the hospital staff right away. By the way the hospital they didn't know what to do because they didn't have contact with black Physicians and guess who has a lot of contacts who old me.

32:27 So after practicing medicine without a hospital using using my friend as a as a device to see patients in hospitals, I was suddenly the siege of a request for information about black Josh's who should be at the amas.

32:53 And so there I was giving advice to the American Medical Association after being on the outside for about seven years allowed to be in the AMA for so long what would happen that you were not allowed to that you were he had to practice medicine with the help of your friend reputation was out of a radical and the AMA has seen to it that I wasn't a member of it because this is this not being able to remember the amazing could effectively keep me from practicing medicine.

33:39 But they weren't able to do it because my friends were able to get me a hospital. I'd sneak into the hospital with them see my patients and the hospitals in Hyde Park, but they were willing to

33:54 Satilla it's going to happen.

33:58 Because I had a big practice and hospitals need patients.

34:05 So eventually the whole thing come down and

34:10 African Americans were admitted to various hospitals with my imprimatur. I would have picked out the ones that I knew your dogs for and pretty soon black Physicians were admitted to all the hospitals in Chicago.

34:32 And the organization that I had helped organize the CED and see him. I was referred to in the still known among blacks positions as those who remember that and some of them remember me and help me in my practice to you told me a story once about when you so you're working at the hospital and they didn't have any there were no black patients and then you managed to get one admitted to the first one that was a patient of mine was in the service and the he was in them in the Navy.

35:17 He brought his he married a woman from Samoa American Samoa.

35:25 And he brought her to the United States. She came with her with her father and her mother and he was the former King King King of American Samoa. Unfortunately, he was very sick and they arrived.

35:46 And it's wife got sick. Also, I referred his wife. I referred him to a surgeon. He has lymphosarcoma the deadly disease from when she died but his wife was admitted to Woodlawn Hospital under my name or my partner's name and I saw her that her and she has the flu. There was a terrible flu epidemic at the time Woodlawn Hospital didn't want to admit her. So I told them that they had to admit or otherwise the state department was going to get them at the awful lot of trouble. She was the queen of American Samoa and they'll be an international if she was admitted.

36:33 And they bought the story. Of course. It was true. That would have been there would have been some repercussions. I don't know if they would have been so severe but nevertheless that was they broke the wrong with the color line and then they all really believed the fact that has black patients and white pavers patients were in the same room the black man and a white man, but fight, can you imagine can you imagine people getting out of their beds and fighting each other because they wouldn't because they didn't want it in regression in the hospitals.

37:22 Anyway, it all seems so long ago.

37:29 Eventually, I became a member of a lot of hospitals Jackson Park Hospital or Thunder Staff and Michael Reese Michael Reese gave me a lot of trouble. It was a Jewish hospital and it was discriminating against against black people.

37:51 They wouldn't have met the other quarter 17%

37:57 Where's the number of blacks you are allowed to have has Reese Reese's gone. Now you were on the staff and all of a sudden your leg. Oh, wait lights 17% So what did you do to talk to him about admitting black patients? And he agreed he admitted as many as he could to Therese and so they called him in he was an Irish Catholic and so they were faced when they didn't realize if they were faced with a lawsuit from Irish Catholic suing a Jewish hospital and look horrible day. On the score and they admitted they changed their program there now by us and they admitted anyone who

38:57 Who is eligible because they were referred by The Physicians surgeons and

39:12 The whole pattern changed over tonight.

39:17 Okay, so we only have one minute left. So I just want to say like I think it's I'm so proud to be your granddaughter into like have you as an example and Grandma of like the schools and you guys were dating and I mean, this is just one tiny piece of some of the struggles that you've been involved with like you talked about like Healthcare in single Perry pear health care, which we still haven't achieved, you know, but like peace and all these other Association opposed health insurance. They are opposed Blue Cross and Blue Shield. They said that it was socialized medicine. That's if anyone talked to her and she said of course people on the job that's part of their benefits love and health insurance and have cut their cost.

40:12 All all that we had a fight the airmail to send a thank you for all of the fights that you have. Like I know they don't all end with success, but you are such a great example of somebody who has actually like one time. I mean most put in jail. She was Austin Park.

40:50 And was against the law to hand out a leaflet. They said it's very integrating schools right or something else feel better been up and internationally to ban the atom the atom bomb throughout the world. And so she joined an organization that was trying to get rid of the atom bomb the federal government eventually celebration finally came to an accord with the Soviets.

41:30 And so the all that changed the police is part of that International movement. I think our time is up. But but we have a whole bus ride. We have the rest of the day. We don't hang out with you can keep telling stories.

41:52 All right. I love you grandpa. Thank you so much for coming to this with me.