People, Locations, Episodes

Ernest Hayford, Physician, and Lawyer born

*Ernest Hayford was born on this date in 1858.  He was a Black African physician and lawyer on the Gold Coast.    Born in Anomabu, Ghana, Ernest James Hayford was the eldest son of the Rev. Joseph de Graft Hayford, a Methodist minister, and Mary Brew. J. E. Casely Hayford and Mark Christian Hayford were […]

James Brister, Dentist born

 *The birth of James Brister is celebrated on this date in 1858. He was a Black dentist. Born in Philadelphia, he was the son of dentist Joseph Brister and Olivia Rebecca Parker Brister. The families came to Philadelphia from Delaware and Maryland. In 1860, Joseph Brister was already a member of the Banneker Institute, organized […]

Charles E. Bentley, Dentist born

*Charles Edwin Bentley was born on this date in 1859.  He was a Black dentist and activist.   Bentley was born and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1887 he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the Chicago College of Dental Surgery.  In 1888, he founded what grew to be the largest local dental society in the world, the Odontographic Society, and he was […]

Benjamin Quartey-Papafio, Physician born

*Benjamin Quartey-Papafio was born on this date in 1859.  He was a Black physician and politician on the Gold Coast.  Benjamin William Quartey-Papafio was born into a leading Accra, Ghana family: his parents were Chief William Quartey-Papafio and Momo Omedru, a businesswoman from Gbese (Dutch Accra). His brother Emmanuel was an agriculturist and trader, and […]

Thomas Burton, Doctor, Administrator, and Poet born

Thomas William Burton was born on this date in 1860. He was an African American doctor, poet, and medical association administrator.

He was born near Tates Creek, Madison County, KY. Thomas was the youngest of 15 children of Edward and Eliza Burton, who were slaves. His father died when he was five and his mother died when he was nine.

John Lowery, Physician, and Activist born

*John Lowery was born on this date in 1860. He was an African American physician, businessman and politician.

Walter Plecker, Public Health Segregationist born

*Walter Plecker was born on this date in 1861. He was a white American physician, public health advocate and racial separatist.

LuLu Fleming, Medical Missionary born

*Louise Cecelia Fleming was born on this date in 1862. She was a Black medical missionary.

From Hibernia Clay County, Florida she was born a slave and was nicknamed LuLu. She attended Shaw University, graduating as class valedictorian in1885. Fleming was the first African American woman to be commissioned for work in Africa by the Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. Two years later Fleming left America, stopped in Europe and then began working as a missionary for five years in Palabala, Congo (now Zaire).

Robert S. Brown, Physician born

*Robert S. Brown was born on this date in 1863. He was a Black doctor. Born in Staunton, Virginia, Robert Sirelle Brown studied at the integrated Bennett Medical College in Chicago, now part of Loyola University. Upon graduating in 1895, Brown practiced in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he married Julia Perrin. The couple had three children […]

Eliza Anna Grier, Doctor, and Teacher born

*The birth of Eliza Anna Grier is celebrated on this date in 1864.  She was a Black doctor and teacher.  Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to Emily and George Washington Grier. In 1884 she enrolled in the Normal Department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She worked through school, alternating years between coursework and […]

The First Black Woman In America Graduates with a Medical Degree

*On this date in 1864 the first Black woman attained a Medical Degree.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler graduated from the New England Female Medical College on this date. Crumpler worked from 1852-1860 as a nurse in Massachusetts.

Georgia Patton Washington, Doctor born

On this date in 1864, Georgia E. Patton Washington was born. She was the first Black woman licensed as a physician and surgeon in the state of Tennessee, and one of the first Black-American medical missionaries in Africa.

Charles Roman, Doctor, and Activist born

Charles Victor Roman was born on this date in 1864. He was an African American physician, professor, author, and activist.

Monroe A. Majors, Physician born

*Monroe Majors was born on this date in 1864.  He was a Black physician, writer, and civil rights activist in Texas and Los Angeles.   Monroe Alpheus Majors was born in Waco, Texas, and was the son of Andrew Jackson Majors and Jane Barringer. In 1869, they moved to Austin, Texas, where Majors attended Freedmen’s […]

Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson, Doctor born

*Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson was born on this date in 1864.  She was a Black doctor.  Born Halle Tanner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was the oldest daughter of nine children to Benjamin Tucker and Sarah Elizabeth Tanner. Johnson was well educated and, as a young girl, became familiar with the work of prominent Black intellectuals. She worked with […]