Dr. William A. Cleland was born in 1907 in Hickory, North Carolina and grew up in Durham where his father served as Minister of St. Joseph’s A.M.E. Church. After finishing high school, he worked in New Jersey for 14 years to complete his education at Kittrell College. Cleland completed his undergraduate and medical school education at Howard University and then an internship at Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, DC.

With support from Dean Wilburt Davidson of Duke medical school, and Dr. Clyde Donnell, in 1936, Dr. Cleland obtained a Julius Rosenwald Fund fellowship for training in pediatrics at New York University.
He obtained specialty training in pediatrics at New York University from in 1936-37. Upon his return to Durham, he was the first Black pediatrician in Durham. He had a large private practice and also ran four well-baby clinics for the Durham County Health Department.
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Lincoln Hospital, Durham, North Carolina

Lincoln Hospital in Durham, N.C. was founded in 1901 through the efforts of Dr. Aaron Moore, Dr. Stanford Warren, and John Merrick. They convinced Washington Duke that a hospital would be a more valuable investment than Duke's idea of building a monument on the Trinity campus to honor African Americans who had fought for the confederacy.

Duke covered construction costs and provided an initial $5,000 endowment. Dr. Moore, who received his medical degree from Leonard Medical College (Shaw University), was Durham's first Black doctor and served as Lincoln Hospital's first superintendent. He was followed by Dr. Charles Shepard, William Rich, Frank W. Scott, Ronald C. Foreman, and Larry T. Suitt.

In 1976, the hospital closed and merged with the Durham County Hospital Corporation.
Today Lincoln Hospital is Lincoln Community Health Center. Note: (It is known that the enslaved Black people who "fought" on the side of the confederacy, did so by force from their enslavers.)

Source: https://guides.mclibrary.duke.edu/c.php?g=201810&p=7672225