Dorothy Lavinia Brown
(January 7, 1914 – June 13, 2004
[Martini, Kelli]
Dorothy Brown, South's first African-American woman doctor, dies
News Archives, The United Methodist Church, June 14, 2004, UMC.org), also known as "Dr. D.",
[ was an ]African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
, legislator
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ...
, and teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
. She was the first female surgeon of African-American ancestry from the Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the south ...
. She was also the first African American female to serve in the Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...
as she was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
Constitutional requirements
According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consi ...
.[Anne-Leslie Owens,]
Dorothy Lavinia Brown
" ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. While serving in the House of Representatives, Brown fought for women's rights and for the rights of people of color.
Biography
Brown was born in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, Pennsylvania,[McKenzie, Julie and Denita Denhart]
Dorothy Lavinia Brown
, The Scientist Bank, cspumona.edu and was surrendered to the Troy Orphan Asylum, an orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...
in Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
, New York at five months old by her mother, Edna Brown. Dorothy lived at the orphanage until the age of 12. There were multiple factors that inspired Brown to pursue a career in surgery: the care she received during her tonsillectomy, and a performance that she watched that made her want to do something to make other African Americans proud.
Although her mother tried to persuade Dorothy to live with her again, Brown ran away five times, returning to the Troy orphanage each time. At the age of fifteen, Brown ran away to enroll at Troy High School. The principal at Troy High School found out that Brown was homeless, and he arranged for her to be taken in by Lola and Samuel Wesley Redmon. She worked as a mother's helper in the house of Mrs. W. F. Jarrett,[ in Albany, New York, which was just across the ]Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...
. When she was fifteen, she worked at a self-service laundry.
Education
After finishing high school, Brown attended Bennett College
Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 it ...
, a historically black college
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
. She received a scholarship from the Women’s Division of Christian Service of the Methodist Church. Brown earned money during this period as a domestic helper. She was aided by a Methodist woman, of the Division of Christian Service, to be admitted into the American College of Surgeons, where she earned a BA degree in 1941.[
She began working as an inspector at the Rochester Army Ordnance Department in ]Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
.[ In 1944, Brown was admitted to study medicine at Meharry Medical College, a historically black college in Nashville. She completed her internship at the ]Harlem Hospital
Harlem Hospital Center, branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, is a 272-bed, public teaching hospital affiliated with Columbia University. It is located at 506 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City and was founded in 1887.
The ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.[ After graduating in 1948 in the top third of her class,][ Brown became a resident at Hubbard Hospital of Meharry in 1949, despite local opposition to training female surgeons. She had gained approval from the chief surgeon, Matthew Walker, Sr., M.D.][ Brown completed her ]residency
Residency may refer to:
* Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place
** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship
* Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...
in 1954.[
]
Career
To start off her career, Brown helped as a doctor in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. She worked as an inspector in the Rochester Army Ordinance Department. Brown was the chief surgeon at the now-defunct Riverside Hospital in Nashville from 1957 to 1983.[ In 1966, she became the first African-American female to be elected to the Tennessee General Assembly (known also as the ]Tennessee State Legislature
The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...
[), a position that she held for two years.][ She almost succeeded in having ]abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
s legalized in cases of rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
or incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...
, and in expanding the already existing legally permitted abortions in cases when the "mother's life was in danger".[ During her career as a politician, Brown also became involved in the passing of the Negro History Act, which required ]public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
s in Tennessee to "conduct special programs during Negro History Week to recognize accomplishments made by African Americans".[
After her work in WWII, she entered medical school at Meharry Medical College in Nashville Tennessee.] Dr. Brown then did a one-year internship at Harlem Hospital and next she completed a five-year residency in general surgery at Meharry and Hubbard Hospital. In 1959, She became the first black female surgeon to become a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
In 1968, Brown tried to obtain a seat in the Tennessee Senate
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...
, but lost in part due to her support for abortion law
Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...
s. In 1968, following her departure from politics, Brown returned to becoming a full-time physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
at the Riverside Hospital. Brown also acted as an attending surgeon at the George W. Hubbard and General Hospitals, as director of education for the clinical rotation program of the Riverside and Meharry Hospitals. She was also a surgery professor at the Meharry Medical College and consulted for the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is the third largest Institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. It is tasked with allocating about $3.6 billion in FY 2020 in tax revenue to ...
.
After losing in her run for a seat in the Tennessee Senate, Brown served on the Joint Committee on Opportunities for Women in Medicine, sponsored by the American Medical Association. Along with support women in medicine, Brown also had a major influence in the fight for the rights of people of color, and was a life long member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Personal life
In 1956, Brown agreed to adopt
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
a female child from an unmarried patient at the Riverside Hospital. The patient came to Brown while still pregnant and asked her to adopt her child. Brown agreed because she wanted a child and knew that a chance like this would most likely never come again. Brown became the first known single female in Tennessee to legally adopt a child, whom she named Lola Denise Brown in honor of her foster mother
Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family memb ...
.[ She later adopted a son named Kevin. Brown was a member of the ]United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
.[
]
Writing
Brown wrote an autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
,[ ]essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
s, and inspirational guides.[
]
Recognitions
In 1959, she became the third woman to become a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (or FACS) is a professional certification for a medical professional who has passed a set of criteria for education, qualification, and ethics required to join the American College of Surgeons.
''FACS'' ...
, the first African-American woman to be elected. In 1971, the Dorothy L. Brown Women's Residence at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, was named after her. She also received honorary doctorate degrees from the Russell Sage College
Russell Sage College (often Russell Sage or RSC) is a co-educational college with two campuses located in Albany and Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. Russell Sage College offers both undergraduate ...
in Troy, New York, and also from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina.[ In particular, she received her honorary degrees in the ]Humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
from Bennett College and Cumberland University
Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.
History
1842-1861
The university was founded by the Cumberland ...
.[
Brown was a member of the board of trustees at Bennett College and of the ]Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...
sorority. She participated as a speaker on panels that discussed scientific, religious, medical, and political issues.[ Brown was also awarded the ]Horatio Alger Award
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity and to emphas ...
in 1994 and the Carnegie Foundation's humanitarian award in 1993.
Because Dorothy Lavinia Brown had accomplished so much in her career as a surgeon, she was a very sought-after public speaker, both nationally and internationally.
Death
She died in Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
, Tennessee, in 2004 of congestive heart failure.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Dorothy Lavinia
1919 births
2004 deaths
African-American writers
American writers
African-American state legislators in Tennessee
African-American women in politics
African-American physicians
American surgeons
African-American Methodists
American United Methodists
Politicians from Troy, New York
Politicians from Philadelphia
Writers from Philadelphia
Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Writers from Nashville, Tennessee
Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives
Women state legislators in Tennessee
20th-century American women physicians
20th-century American physicians
Women surgeons
20th-century American politicians
Writers from Troy, New York
Physicians from Pennsylvania
Physicians from Tennessee
African-American women physicians
20th-century surgeons
20th-century American women politicians
20th-century Methodists