Black History Month Program to Honor "Medical Legends"

Human Relations - Feb. 19, 2007
Contact: Wanda Allen-Abraha, 727-2429

The program is part of the NAACP’s ongoing effort to honor "living legends" in the black community during Black History Month, said President Stephen Hairston. "We try to honor African-American professionals from our community each year by celebrating their careers and lives," Hairston said. Wanda Allen-Abraha, the city human relations director, said, "This is only one small way that we can acknowledge and recognize the accomplishments of these trailblazers in the community."

This year’s program will honor:

•Dr. James Jones, an internist who practiced from 1960 to 1977;

•Dr. Thomas Clarke, an obstetrician and gynecologist who practiced from 1963-1999 and taught at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine.

•Ms. Lula Morrison, a nurse who began practicing in the 1930s as a public health nurse;

•Dr. Harvey Allen, a general surgeon who has been practicing since 1965 and is still in practice part-time;

•Dr. Willard McCloud, Sr., a surgeon who practiced from 1955 to 2002, first with the Air Force and later in private practice.

•Ms. Gwendolyn Andrews, a nurse who practiced from 1954 to 1989, and the first nurse and African-American woman appointed to the Baptist Hospital Board of Trustees.

•Ms. Ida Staplefoot, a school nurse who began practicing in 1935.

•Dr. Charlie L. Kennedy, a pediatrician who has been practicing since 1967 at Baptist Hospital.

For more information call the NAACP at 767-3470, or the Human Relations Department at 727-2429.