An X video shared by @iAnonPatriot shows a woman asserting, "Black people invented the ambulance." Below it, supporters praise the message, while critics argue that it oversimplifies the history of emergency medical services.
The woman addresses people she says dislike Black people with: "I bet I never catch you in an ambulance." She adds: "Black people invented the ambulance. You're welcome. Freedom House."
She then urges those who harbor anti-Black views to avoid ambulances altogether and suggests they should "walk" to the hospital for emergencies because "Black people invented your ambulance, America."
On X, several users challenged her by pointing to the origins of ambulance services in Europe. One reply read, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the inventor of the Ambulance: Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey of France. 1766 to 1842." Other responses included offensive language directed at the woman.
Woman says that White people shouldn’t be using ambulances because they were invented by Black people..
— American AF ?? (@iAnonPatriot) July 20, 2026
People were using horse-drawn wagons called “ambulancias”, which originated in Spain in the 1400s.
They were also used in Prussia and France during the 1700s pic.twitter.com/UpAxAmdiSP
The claim that Black people invented the ambulance is not historically accurate. But historians say Black Americans played a transformative role in developing modern emergency medical services in the United States.
As the X commenter noted, it was French military surgeon Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey who introduced the concept of the modern battlefield ambulance during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the late 18th century. He designed fast horse-drawn wagons, called "flying ambulances" for their speed, to transport wounded soldiers from the front lines for treatment.
The woman's reference to Freedom House, however, points to a genuinely significant chapter in American medical history.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the inventor of the Ambulance:
— Bravo Sierra (@BravoSierraM4) July 20, 2026
Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey of France.
1766 to 1842 pic.twitter.com/2SqrCMIQJm
The Freedom House Ambulance Service that the woman talks about was established in Pittsburgh in 1967. It was staffed primarily by Black residents who had been excluded from most medical and emergency service jobs due to racial discrimination.
According to the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Pittsburgh, that ambulance service indeed became one of the nation's first professionally trained emergency medical responder programs.
Freedom House personnel received advanced medical training that exceeded the standards of many ambulance services of the era by showing people the value of trained paramedics providing lifesaving care before patients reached hospitals. So, while medical historians recognize Freedom House as a pioneering force in professional emergency medical services, they do not consider it the inventor of the ambulance itself.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the identity of the woman in the video or the specific X account that originally posted it. Historical claims about Freedom House were drawn from publicly available records at the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Pittsburgh. Information about Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey was sourced from historical records.
