African American Physicians in Kentucky

The names of more than 100 African American physicians in and from Kentucky are listed in the 2011 edition of the Biographical Dictionary of American Physicians of African Ancestry, 1800-1920, by G. R. Beckford. Regarding Kentucky, the physicians listed in the title were either born in Kentucky, or attended the Louisville National Medical College, or practiced medicine in one of the 32 Kentucky cities listed in the geographical index. Listed are persons such as Dr. Charles William Bibb (1884-1959), from Allensville, KY, who graduated from Meharry Medical School [now Meharry Medical College] and was a gynecologist and staff surgeon at Chicago Hospital. Dr. Bibb had a medical practice in Allensville before he moved to Chicago, where he had a medical practice for almost 45 years [source: "Dr. Charles W. Bibb," Jet, 10/29/1959, p. 16]. Also included in the dictionary is Dr. Simon James Watkins (1861-1948), from Courtland, AL, an 1891 Meharry Medical School graduate who was the first African American physician in Covington, KY,; he practiced medicine in Covington from 1891-1946 and was a dentist, physician, and surgeon [source: T. H. H. Harris, " Watkins, Simon J." on p. 940 in the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky, by Tenkotte and Claypool]. One other physician listed in the dictionary is Dr. Mary Irene Browne, born in 1886 in Washington, D.C., she was a 1910 graduate of Meharry Medical School and practiced medicine in Williamsburg and Kensee, KY. While in Kentucky, Dr. Browne lived in Depot with her sister, Jane Alice Browne Bond, who was a school teacher and the wife of James M. Bond [source: 1910 U.S. Federal Census].

References

Cited in this Entry

NKAA Entry:

Louisville National Medical College

NKAA Entry:

Bond, James M.

NKAA Source:

Biographical dictionary of American physicians of African ancestry, 1800-1920

NKAA Source:

Jet (periodical)

NKAA Source:

The Encyclopedia of northern Kentucky