Ransom, Riley Andrew
(born: 1886 - died: 1951)Dr. Riley Andrew Ransom, born in Columbus, KY, was one of the first African American doctors in Fort Worth, TX. Ransom was a cousin of Bishop Isaac Lane, founder of Lane College in Jackson, TN.
Ransom initially attended Lane College but soon transferred to Southern Illinois State Normal University in Carbondale [now Southern Illinois University at Carbondale], where he earned his undergraduate degree. In 1908 he graduated from the Louisville National Medical College [the school closed in 1912] as valedictorian of his class.
Ransom took his state board of medicine in Oklahoma City and later settled in Fort Worth, where he was the first African American surgeon in Tarrant County. He also helped establish the first hospital for African Americans, the Booker T. Washington Sanitarium, where he became Chief Surgeon in the early 1920s.
Dr. Ransom is buried in the New Trinity Cemetery in Fort Worth; in 1986 the cemetery was declared a historic site. Markers at the site pay honor to the 100-year-old cemetery and the contributions of Dr. Ransom.
For more see B. R. Sanders, “Doctor left record of early struggles,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/19/2003, METRO section, p. 1B; “Black History Month,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2/15/1994, METRO section, p. 11; and Hanson, Gayle W., "Riley Andrew Ransom Sr. (1886-1951)," Nov. 12, 2012, at the BlackPast.org website.
