Dorothy Lavinia Brown Biography

Throughout the course of history, there have been numerous African Americans who made great contributions to the society in which we are living in today. For many years, African American have been oppressed and stripped of the natural right as human beings, however, we had African American such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and many others who challenged the odds and made it possible for African Americans today to have the many rights that we do. The African American that has motivated me the most is Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown. Despite the racial disparity and the many setbacks, she had to endure, she managed the become the first African-American woman in the South appointed a general surgery residency.
Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 7,1919. Five months after her birth, Dr. Brown was placed into a predominantly white orphanage in in Troy New York: Troy Orphan Asylum. When she was thirteen years old, her estranged mother reclaimed her and she ended up running away from her five times, returning to the orphanage each time. When she turned fifteen, Brown enrolled herself at the Troy High School and …show more content…
In 1944, Brown began studying medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville and became a resident at Hubbard Hospital in 1949, despite the misogynistic views upon African American women in the art of becoming a surgeon. Brown served as the chief surgeon Riverside Hospital in Nashville from 1957 to 1983. In 1966 became the first African American Female to be elected to the Tennessee General Assembly. Brown also became the first known single women in Tennessee to legally adopt a child. Dr. Brown also succeeded in having abortions legalized in cases of rape or incest and became involved in passing the Negro History Week to recognize accomplishment made by African

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