The country's first paramedics were Black. James McDaniel wants to tell their story onscreen
LOS ANGELES — "In every human endeavor there's a person of color smack dab in the middle of it," says actor James McDaniel. "I could go on forever talking about people of color we don't know about who have done extraordinary things."
McDaniel, whose Hollywood history includes almost a decade playing Lt. (later Capt.) Arthur Fancy on "NYPD Blue," is talking about the passion he feels for his latest project — developing a television series about Freedom House Ambulance Service. As the country's first mobile emergency medical service, founded in 1967, it was primarily staffed by African Americans who became the nation's first paramedics.
Before Freedom House, there weren't any ambulances as we know them today, says the organization's co-founder, Phil Hallen, 91. "There were hearses — Cadillacs or Buicks — and you had a
