Addendum

Last night Hank did a little research on the three people in this photo and left the results of that in the comments. I'd like to post them here because it is absolutely the right thing to do and Hank is completely correct when he says, "Let their stories be told and let their names be honored."

Hank has humbled and taught me once again. 

 

Dr. LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr. was born on May 22, 1930, in Tallahassee, Florida, and raised in nearby Quincy, Florida, during the era of segregation. His parents, LaSalle D. Leffall Sr. and Lula Jourdan Leffall, were both educators and emphasized the value of academic excellence and perseverance despite racial barriers. His father was a professor of agriculture at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College (FAMU), and his mother was also a teacher. He chaired the Department of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine from 1970 to 1995 and served as the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery. In 1978, Dr. Leffall became the first African American president of the American Cancer Society, and in 1995, he became the first African American president of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Jessie Furlow was also from Quincy. I can't find much about her, but there is a medical center there that carries her name and she was well respected in her community. She passed away in 2006 at the age of 57.

Dr. William S. Stevens was born in Tallahassee in 1882 and attended Florida State Normal and Industrial College before graduating from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. After medical school, Dr. Stevens moved to Quincy where he made history as the first African-American doctor to open his own medical practice in the area. Dr. Stevens also operated a community hospital and a drug store, both for black people in the segregated area. However, Dr. Stevens’ success did not make him immune to the rampant racism pulsing through Quincy. At one point, local whites tied Stevens to a tree after he attempted to register black voters. He was not scared off. In 1914, the doctor’s good standing in the community earned him the title of Supervisor of the Quincy City Schools. In this role, he sought to enlarge the reach of the African-American Dunbar High School and oversaw a four-year improvement project in the late 1920s. Locals were so pleased with Dr. Stevens’ work to install new classrooms and an auditorium in the building, that they voted to change the school’s name in his honor.

Let their stories be told and their names be honored.