Louis T. Wright

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Louis Tompkins Wright (born 1891 in LaGrange, Georgia; died 1952) was a Spingarn Medal winning surgeon noted for his work in Harlem. He received his advanced degrees from Harvard Medical School and played an important role in investigating the use of Aureomycin as a treatment on humans.^[1]

He received his bachelor's from Clark Atlanta University before getting his medical degree from Harvard. His efforts related to Civil Rights began in college when he missed three weeks of school to join picket lines protesting The Birth of a Nation. He went on to graduate fourth in his class and do work as a medic in World War I. During the war he won the Purple Heart. On returning to the United States he became the first African American on the surgical staff of Harlem Hospital. He worked there for the next thirty years and became an expert on several topics.^[2]

Dr. Wright also served as chairman of the national board of directors of the N.A.A.C.P.