Tag: African American physicians

Dorothy Lavinia Brown (GW017)

(January 7, 1919 – June 13, 2004)

from The Greenwood Project

Although abandoned by her mother and raised in foster homes, Dorothy Brown became valedictorian of her high school graduating class. However, she could not afford college until a Methodist women’s group for whom she worked as a housekeeper paid her tuition at Bennett College. She graduated with honors, then worked in a defense plant to earn money for medical school, entering Meharry in 1944. After the Harlem hospital where she interned denied her a surgical residency, she convinced Meharry surgical chief Matthew Walker to allow her a residency in Nashville. In 1954 Brown became the first African American female surgeon in the South when she was named attending surgeon at Hubbard Hospital, chief of surgery at Riverside, and professor of surgery at Meharry. In 1956 she became the first single woman in Tennessee to adopt a child, and in 1966 she won a seat in the Tennessee House, becoming the first African American woman to serve in the state legislature.

Dr. Dorothy L. Brown, M.D. (Department of Interior photo, public domain)

____________________

The Greenwood Project is a series of 160-word biographies of individuals who lie at rest in Mt. Ararat and Greenwood cemeteries, two historic African American burial grounds in Nashville, Tennessee. The project, which began in September 2014 (and is still available on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064806156276), shares the stories of more than 300 consequential individuals, primarily African American, who changed the course of city, state, and national history through their words and deeds. (All biographies were written by Kathy Lauder unless otherwise noted.)

Dr. Charles O. Hadley (GW009)

(March 11, 1872 – December 14, 1948)

from The Greenwood Project

Charles Hadley, a descendant of slaves from John L. Hadley’s Nashville plantation, was a graduate of Fisk University and Meharry Medical College, afterwards working at the latter as a demonstrator of anatomy, while also maintaining a successful Nashville medical practice. During the early years of the 20th century, he was president of the Tennessee chapter of the American Medical Association and secretary of the Nashville Medical and Surgical Association. By 1914 he was an official in the Star Realty & Investment Company, and in 1916 he became captain of Company G of the Tennessee National Guard, the only official Negro military organization in the entire South. As World War I approached, the company underwent additional training, guarded Memphis railroad bridges, and became Company K, 3rd Battalion, 372nd Infantry, of the U.S. Army. By April 1918 the company was in France, where they distinguished themselves in combat. Hadley practiced medicine for 48 years and taught anatomy at Meharry for 30 years.

Nashville Globe photograph of Dr. Charles O. Hadley from Debie Cox’s Nashville History blog, https://nashvillehistory.blogspot.com/2018/06/

____________________

The Greenwood Project is a series of 160-word biographies of individuals who lie at rest in Mt. Ararat and Greenwood cemeteries, two historic African American burial grounds in Nashville, Tennessee. The project, which began in September 2014 (and is still available on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064806156276), shares the stories of more than 300 consequential individuals, primarily African American, who changed the course of city, state, and national history through their words and deeds. (All biographies were written by Kathy Lauder unless otherwise noted.)