to having a different set of requirements. In 1940 he was the recipient of the Spingarn Medal for "his contribution to the healing of mankind and for his courageous position in the face of bitter attack." Death and legacy Wright suffered chronic health problems following his war service and was hospitalized for tuberculosis from 1939 to 1942. Though he returned to medicine thereafter and was appointed chief of surgery in 1943, he never fully recovered and died in 1952 at the age of 61. Throughout his career Wright published research extensively and his research proved influential in a number of areas including antibiotic treatment, cancer research, chemotherapy, treating head injuries, and treating bone fractures. The Harlem Hospital library was renamed in his honor just before he died. "What the Negro physician needs is equal opportunity for training and practice—no more, nor less." — Louis T. Wright Fictional portrayals Wright is the inspiration for the character Algernon Edwards, played by actor Andre Holland, in the Cinemax television drama series The Knick. Edwards, like Wright, graduated at the top of his class at Harvard Medical School and serves as the first African-American surgeon at the fictionalized Knickerbocker Hospital in Manhattan. Whereas the Harlem Hospital consisted a previously all-white surgical staff serving primarily African-American patients, the hospital in The Knick is an all-white surgical staff serving primarily white patients. While Edwards, active two decades prior to Wright, was not involved in broad-scale civil rights activism, the racial injustice he and others contended with is a major theme of the show. References Further reading External links Louis Tompkins Wright papers, 1879, 1898, 1909-1997. H MS c56. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass. 1891 births 1952 deaths Clark Atlanta University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Spingarn Medal winners African-American physicians United States Army Medical Corps officers People from LaGrange, Georgia NAACP activists American civil rights activists American surgeons 20th-century surgeons 20th-century African-American people