The establishment of black medical schools in the United States dates back to the period after the Civil War. Although they were established to train black physicians, these schools did not discriminate in enrollment by race or gender and admitted black and white women at a time when discriminatory practices were observed at most white medical schools. Howard University in Washington, D.C., was the first historically black institution to establish a medical school, in 1868, one year after the university was founded. Over the next four decades at least thirteen other black institutions followed. Notable among these is Meharry Medical College, founded in 1876; it is the oldest surviving black medical school in the South.