The National Medical Association was organized in October 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Cotton States and International Exposition. The association was formed in reaction to the racial practices of predominantly white associations. The American Medical Association refused to urge all its local members to remove restrictive provisions until 1950. Founded as the National Association of Colored Physicians, Dentists, and Pharmacists on September 18, 1895, the NMA had a small membership of fewer than fifty in 1904, which grew to over five hundred by 1912; the association name change was effected in 1903. The first president of the black association was R. F. Boyd of Nashville, Tennessee. The Journal of the National Medical Association became the chief means of spotlighting the work of its members. The journal remained the primary source of information on black doctors and dentists until the mainstream press covered their contributions to health care. The NMA continues to serve the black medical community.