Doctor Ernest Bates, originally from Peekskill, New York, graduated from Johns Hopkins and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and founded American Shared Hospital Services, a company that leases medical equipment to hospitals across the United States. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University, the Board of Visitors of the Johns Hopkins Medical Center, and on the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery Advisory Board. In this oral history, Bates discusses his experiences at Hopkins as the first African-American student in the School of Arts and Sciences in 1954, the difficulties of segregation off campus, and his subsequent activities as a trustee with Hopkins. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.