Brown, Dorothy (1919–)

First African-American woman surgeon in the American South. Name variations: "D" Brown. Born Dorothy Lavinia Brown on January 7, 1919, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina, B.A., 1941; Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, M.D., 1948; children: one adopted daughter, Lola Cannon Redmon .

Destined to become the first black surgeon in the South, Dorothy Brown would remain ever mindful of her struggle and would devote much of her life to helping others. She was born on January 7, 1919, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother, young and unmarried, left her in a Troy, New York, orphanage as an infant. When mother and daughter were reunited 13 years later, Dorothy was unable to adjust to the relationship and, after running away several times, was placed as a mother's helper in Albany, New York. Encouraged by her employer, she was able to move back to Troy, where she completed high school while living with a foster family. Through the Methodist Church in her community, she won a scholarship to Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, graduating second in her class. In 1944, after working a variety of jobs with the Army Ordinance Department, Brown had saved enough money to enter Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. After graduating in the upper third of her class, Brown spent a year as an intern at Harlem Hospital in New York City but was denied a surgical residency at the hospital because of a bias against women surgeons. Undaunted, she returned to Meharry and convinced the chief of surgery to admit her there. After completing her residency in 1954, she continued to practice in Nashville, becoming a fellow of the American College of Surgery. She later became attending surgeon at George W. Hubbard Hospital and professor of surgery at Meharry Medical College.

Brown's life continued to be punctuated by firsts. At the age of 40, she became the first single woman in modern times to adopt a child in the state of Tennessee. She named the little girl Lola Redmon in honor of her foster mother. In 1966, she was the first black woman to be elected to the lower house of the Tennessee State Legislature. She ran for a seat in the Tennessee Senate in 1968, but lost due to her liberal stand on abortion rights.

Brown received honorary doctoral degrees from Bennett College and Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and remained an active member of the United Methodist Church. She worked to raise money for the 12 black colleges and universities supported by the denomination.