African American Women's Health Organization in Jim Crow Texas

[African Americana]: [Texas]: [Women]:

[Two Programs for Annual Sessions of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Lone Star State Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association].

[N.p., likely Houston, Tx. 1944, 1946]. [4]; [4]pp. Both in original printed wrappers, stapled. Minor overall wear. Very good. Item #12633

A pair of very rare, if not unrecorded, pamphlets printing the events which took place at two different annual meetings of the Women's Auxiliary of the Lone Star State Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association, a vitally important African-American health organization in Jim Crow Texas.  The earlier of the two publications covers the June 6-8, 1944 session held at Jarvis College in Hawkins, Texas; the latter session was held at Charlton-Pollard High School in Beaumont.  Both pamphlets print the schedule of events for the sessions along with a "Social Calendar" and a list of officers.  The events included musical performances, addresses, devotionals, readings of minutes, and so forth.  Interestingly, the opening song of the 1946 session is listed as the "Negro National Anthem," also known as James Weldon Johnson’s "Lift Every Voice and Sing."  We are unable to find any holdings of these two pamphlets explicitly in OCLC, but a couple of institutions hold collections of papers from various health professionals who were members of the organization, which may include these two publications.

"The Lone Star State Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Association, an organization of African Americans in the health field, came into existence on August 25, 1886, in Galveston.  J. H. and L. M. Wilkins, brothers and Galveston doctors, with J. S. Cameron, a San Antonio pharmacist, and twelve men from nine towns met to establish the association, the second organization of Black professionals in the medical field in the nation.... The founders had approached the Texas Medical Association concerning participation, but it refused to admit them.  After sporadic activities in the 1880s and 1890s, the association revived in 1901 through the efforts of six members who held a meeting in Austin.  Thereafter it grew steadily to attain a membership of almost 300 by 1928.  Its members—physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses—selected their first female president, A. E. Hughes, in 1934.  Throughout its history the association emphasized discussion of medical practice and public-health education.  It also reviewed hospitals and schools for nurses to provide information on standards.  During the 1930s leaders successfully urged the establishment of a state-supported tuberculosis sanatorium for Blacks at Kerrville.... After the TMA was opened to Blacks in 1955, the organization, which had been retitled the Lone Star Medical Association, remained active but declined from 250 members in 1959 to eighty in 1985, after a decision allowing dentists and pharmacists to form their own groups" - Handbook of Texas online.

Price: $1,500