No Way Out

African Americans made up 12% of the population of the United States in the 1950s but only 2% of the medical workforce. That this proportion is now a somewhat more representative 6% may have been helped a little by a change in Hollywood medical stereotypes, the first step in which was Joseph Mankiewicz's shocking and provocative No Way Out, starring Sydney Poitier in his first credited screen appearance.

When the film was released, segregation had only recently been abolished in the army and would remain legal in schools for another four years …