John P. Turner
*John P. Turner was born on this date in 1885. He was a Black doctor.
John Patrick Turner was born in Raleigh, NC, and was the son of Jesse Edward and Virginia Turner. After the family moved north, he attended public schools in Raleigh and NYC public school number 60. At age 17, he enrolled at Shaw University Medical School, graduating in 1906. In 1908, he married Marion C. Harris of Washington, DC.; they had a daughter, Marion Virginia.
After graduation, he started his residency at Douglass Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. In 1912, he was appointed medical inspector for public schools in Philadelphia, a position he held for 19 years. From 1920 – 1921, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, concentrating on surgery. Much of his professional life was spent treating narcotic addiction formally and informally. In 1935, Turner became the first Black appointed to the Philadelphia school board of education.
He was a 33rd-degree Mason member of Sigma Pi Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi. He was in the US Army volunteer medical service corps during WW II. John Patrick Turner died from prostate cancer in Detroit, MI, on September 14, 1858.
