Tag: Nashville physicians

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/

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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.)

Josie English Wells (GW005)

(November 28, 1878 – March 20, 1921)

from The Greenwood Project

When Josie Wells graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1904, she was both the first female graduate of Meharry and the first practicing female physician in Nashville, black or white. Previously trained as a nurse, she became superintendent of Mercy Hospital’s nurses’ training program (which later moved to Meharry), as well as general physician for Walden University. She was the first woman to teach at Meharry, also becoming the first female to hold a position of leadership there after being appointed superintendent of Hubbard Hospital (now Nashville General Hospital). A specialist in the diseases of women and children, Wells encouraged other young women to study medicine. Two afternoons a week she provided free medical treatment to patients who could not pay. During World War I she helped found the Tennessee Colored Women’s chapter of the National Council of Defense. When she died at age 42 after a brief illness, the Journal of the National Medical Association praised her many accomplishments.

Metro Nashville/Davidson County Historical Marker for Dr. Josie E. Wells on the Fisk/Meharry campus. (From the Historical Marker Database, photos by Darren Jefferson Clay, May 2022)

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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.)