Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee

Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee
Born Dorothy Celeste Boulding
October 10, 1898
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Died September 14, 1980 (aged 81)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Fields Obstetrics, gynecology
Institutions Howard University Medical School
Women's Institute
Mississippi Health Project
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alma mater Simmons College
Tufts University Medical School

Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee (October 10, 1898 – September 14, 1980) was an African-American physician and activist.[1]

Biography

Early years

Ferebee was born to Benjamin and Florence Boulding in Norfolk, Virginia. When her mother became ill Dorothy went to live with a great-aunt in Boston, Massachusetts. Dorothy graduated from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and Tufts University Medical School.

Career

Ferebee was instrumental in establishing the Southeast Neighborhood House, an adjunct of the whites-only Friendship House medical center, to provide medical care and other community services to African-Americans in Washington, D.C. She also served as the first medical director for the Mississippi Health Project, "a seven year program stands as one the most impressive examples of voluntary public health work ever conducted by black physicians in the Jim Crow South, touching thousands of black Mississippians at a time when they had virtually no access to professional medical care".[2]

Ferebee served as the tenth International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority from 1939 until 1941. She then served as the second president of the National Council of Negro Women, from 1949 to 1953, succeeding its founder, Mary McLeod Bethune. She also served as the director of health services at Howard University Medical School from 1949 until 1968. From 1969 to 1972, Dr. Ferebee served at the national fourth vice president of Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

She was the first recipient, in 1959, of Simmons College's Alumnae Achievement Award. The college also awards several scholarships in her name each year.

Personal life

Ferebee was married in 1930 to a dentist, Claude Thurston Ferebee. He was a Howard University College of Dentistry professor, with whom she had twins, Dorothy and Claude Jr. Ferebee died on September 14, 1980, in Washington D.C.[3]

References

  1. ↑ McNealey, Earnestine Green (2006). Pearls of Service: The Legacy of America's First Black Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Chicago: Alpha Kappa Alpha. pp. 219–220. LCCN 2006928528.
  2. ↑ Ward Jr., Thomas J. (2003). Black physicians in the Jim Crow South. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. p. 239. ISBN 1557287562.
  3. ↑ "Dr. Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee". Changing the Face of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2008-11-08.

External links