“Photo Courtesy of Lavizzo Family” Dr. Philip V. Lavizzo, one of the first African American doctors to practice surgery in the Pacific Northwest, was born in 1917. Very little is known about his early life. He graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and … Read MorePhilip V. Lavizzo (1917-1972)
Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown was a medical pioneer, educator, and community leader. In 1948-1949 Brown became the first African American female appointed to a general surgery residency in the de jure racially segregated South. In 1956 Brown became the first unmarried woman in Tennessee authorized … Read MoreDorothy Lavinia Brown (1919-2004)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” In 2004 former President Clinton’s and former First Lady Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s official oil portraits were revealed in the East Room at the executive mansion. The artist, Simmie Lee Knox, became in 2002 the first African American artist to get … Read MoreSimmie Lee Knox (1935- )
Samuel (“Sammy”) Leamon Younge Jr. was a 21-year-old civil rights activist who was shot to death on January 3, 1966 when he attempted to use a whites-only restroom at a gas station in Macon County, Alabama. He was a navy veteran studying political science at … Read MoreSamuel (“Sammy”) Leamon Younge, Jr. (1944-1966)
Born in Gainesville, Florida on February 7, 1882, Emma Rochelle Wheeler had gained an interest in medicine at the young age of six after her father had taken her to a white female doctor for an eye problem. Seeing the rare female doctor persuaded young … Read MoreEmma Rochelle Wheeler (1882-1957)
Sarah Fraser, born Sarah Marinda Loguen, was the first African American woman to graduate from the Syracuse University College of Medicine. She was also one of the first African American female physicians specializing in obstetrics and pediatrics. Sarah Loguen was born on January 29, 1850, … Read MoreSarah Loguen Fraser (1850-1933)
An African American Baptist preacher, educator, author, and tireless advocate for African American advancement and uplift, Charles Octavius Boothe was one of the founders of Dexter Avenue-King Memorial Baptist Church (1877), Selma University (1878), and the Colored Baptist Missionary Convention for the State of Alabama … Read MoreCharles Octavius Boothe (1845-1924)
Louise Cecelia Fleming, the first African American to graduate from the Women’s Medical College at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was born January 28, 1862 to slave parents on a plantation near Hibernia in Clay County, Florida. Her father is unknown; she was raised by her mother who … Read MoreLouise Celia “Lulu” Fleming (1862-1899)
Image Courtesy of Kaiser Health News Otis Brawley is an American physician, oncologist, researcher, author, and health care reform advocate, who is currently the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of the American Cancer Society (the largest non-profit health-oriented charity in the … Read MoreOtis Webb Brawley (1959- )
John Van Surly DeGrasse was a commissioned physician with the Union Army during the American Civil War and was the first black to be admitted to a United states medical society. He was born in June 1825 in New York City, New York to Count … Read MoreJohn Van Surly DeGrasse (1825-1868)
