Juneteenth 2026 will mark the 100th anniversary of the historic Riverside Hospital’s founding.
And though the city of Houston, especially its Black community, has every right to revel in nostalgia and pass down stories of Riverside’s past, the future may hold a story equally compelling. And important.
On Juneteenth 1926, nearly 100 years ago, the hospital was dedicated as the Houston Negro Hospital.
Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Elli noted that 100 years ago, Black physicians were barred from working in “white” hospitals and Black patients were regularly denied care or received grossly inadequate care within “Negro Wards” of Houston’s hospitals…