Benjamin Covington
*Benjamin Covington's birth is celebrated on this date in 1869. He was a Black doctor, teacher, and community activist.
Benjamin Jesse Covington was born in Marlin, Texas, to formerly enslaved parents Ben and Georgiana Covington. He spent much of his early life working on a farm in Marlin, and his aptitude for surgical procedures flourished as he tended to sick and injured farm animals. He graduated from Hearne Baptist College in 1892 and began teaching at schools near his hometown of Marlin. He had to quit as local whites thought he was paid too much for a Black man.
In 1895, Covington enrolled in Meharry Medical College and graduated in 1900. After graduation, he briefly practiced medicine in Wharton and Yoakum. He married Gonzales native Jennie Belle Murphy in 1902, and in 1903, they moved to Houston, where Dr. Covington practiced medicine for 58 years. Dr. Covington was president of the Lone Star Medical Association in 1920 and co-founded the Houston Negro Hospital in 1925. Dr. Benjamin Covington died on X, 1961.
