The end of slavery in America and the civil rights movement proved that the will of the people can make things better, said Dr. Frederick M. Barnett, Metroplex Hospital chief of staff.

Speaking at the U.S. Army Operational Test Command's Black History Month observance Friday, Barnett shared insights and personal reflections on the contributions of African-Americans. He was introduced by his nephew, Maj. Angelo Kellum, military test officer, Maneuver Support and Sustainment Test Directorate.

"Nearly 200,000 free and enslaved blacks joined the Union army during the American Civil War," he said.

"That was enough to stand up 14 Negro regiments, and they served as soldiers, spies, surgeons, recruiters and nurses.

"The Civil War provided a chance for African-Americans to have full participation in American society, as well as providing many opportunities to learn new job skills."

Fast-forward 100 years to the civil rights movement, he said, and the efforts of people of African descent continued to expand universal freedom in the United States.

"While the primary purpose of the civil rights movement was for African-Americans to gain equal access," Barnett said, "the movement did more to democratize whites than it did blacks.

"The movement did more to initiate the war on poverty than anything else in American history, because it took large numbers of non-African-Americans to stand alongside African-Americans to accomplish their goal."

Barnett, whose medical specialty is radiology, said his own success is due to putting God first, taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the sacrifices of those who went before him, and the United States Army.

"If you put things in God's hands," he said, "all things are possible. And the Army and a little GI bill certainly helped, too."

Barnett said he had wanted to be a physician "for as long as I can remember, but no one in my family had gone to college and we didn't have the financial means.

"And I had never in my life seen a black physician."

Barnett received his first Army assignment as a general medical officer at the 121st Evacuation Hospital, Yongsan, Korea. Other assignments included Kirk Army Clinic, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md.; Letterman Army Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, Calif.; Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash.; Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio; and Department of Defense Joint Services Magnetic Resonance Imaging Acquisition Team, Washington, D.C.

He joined the Metroplex staff as the director of radiology and was selected to serve as vice chief of staff in 2001 and then chief of staff in 2003. He is a member of the American Medical Association, American College of Radiology, Radiologic Societies of North America and American College of Radiology.