News
Group to honor past, present local doctors
Date:
January 2007
Research shows significant number of black physicians served in area
By NATE KARLIN
The Leaf Chronicle
The work black medical professionals in Clarksville endured to earn the
prestigious title of doctor and form medical practices in the South
should be known and recognized by today's youth, said Geneva Bell,
founder of the Mt. Olive Cemetery Preservation Society.
Bell said children, as well most adults, do not see doctors unless
they're sick.
"Our youth need to see that they too have the ability to be a doctor,"
Bell said. "All youth have the ability — they just need to know it, feel
it, see it."
Bell's organization will host its annual Black History Month event on
Feb. 10 at the Burt-Cobb Community Center that will honor Clarksville's
doctors of the past and present.
"Our black doctors back in the day, I know they had to have had a hard
time and living today in Clarksville I feel that they need to have
recognition."
After researching Clarksville's medical history for articles on black
history, County Historian Eleanor Williams said she was surprised to see
just how many African Americans served in the community's medical fields
between the late 1800s and mid 20th century.
They owned drug stores, performed dental work, operated family practices
and nursed patients. The local influence of Dr. Robert Burt, possibly
Clarksville's most notable black physician, has been recognized by the
adornment of a community center and an elementary school with his
namesake. Burt founded Clarksville's first hospital in the early 1900s.
Despite the societal segregation taking place around them, Williams said
she thought a good rapport existed between the two races within the
medical professions. Williams said her findings prove it's important for
people to continuously research history. "I wish we did do more
education of history," Williams said. "There's a lot to be learned and
just not during Black History Month. It's something we should be
learning all the time."
Dr. Robert Burt
Much of the credit for the
success of today's black doctors, as well as Clarksville's medical field
in general, can be given to Dr. Robert Burt, who many argue, paved the
way for the medical profession in Clarksville.
Before Burt came to
Clarksville in 1902 at the age of 29, the Mississippi native received
his bachelor's degree and medical degree from Meharry Medical School in
Nashville and completed post-graduate work at Harvard.
His credentials, Williams
said, were what gave Burt, the son of former slaves, immediate respect
in a racially divided community.
After setting up offices on Third Street, Burt purchased property on
Current Street in 1904 that he transformed into the Home Infirmary two
years later.
Burt gathered a staff of
five doctors and eight nurses.
Had Burt not established
his hospital, Williams said she thinks Clarksville's community health
would've suffered, as well as the city's business aspect.
She said Burt was a
prominent figure in Clarksville's economy as a stakeholder in several
businesses, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and through his service
on several boards.
The Home Infirmary stayed
in business for 48 years, closing in 1954 when the Clarksville Memorial
Hospital offered services to patients of all races, according to
"Nineteenth Century Heritage, Clarksville, Tenn." a book co-authored by
Williams and Eleanor Beach.
Burt died in 1955.
"What
he did should show our youth and our doctors today what you can do,"
Bell said.
"He
scrambled from the bottom and came up," Bell said. "He just put a goal
in his head and he went for it no matter what. I think that's awesome
what he did."
A historical sign located
near G's Pancake House on Riverside Drive commemorates where
Clarksville's first hospital once stood.
Nate Karlin covers county
government, the School Board and diversity. He can be reached at
245-0276 or at
natekarlin@theleafchronicle.com