Connie Yerwood Connor
Connie Yerwood Conner (c. 1908 – June 11, 1991) was a Texas physician and the first black doctor to serve on the Texas Department of Health.
Biography
[edit]Conner was born in Victoria, Texas, and grew up in Austin.[1] Early on, she decided she wanted to be a doctor.[2] Conner's father was a physician and as a young woman, she and her sister Joyce Yerwood spent time with her father on the job.[3] In 1925, she graduated from Samuel Huston College.[1] Then Conner graduated cum laude from Meharry Medical College in 1933.[3] Conner's residency was in pediatrics, but she eventually became more interested in public health and so went back to school on scholarship to study at the University of Michigan.[2]
Conner became the first black woman to work for the Texas Department of Health in 1937.[4] She was involved in training midwives in East Texas and set up wellness clinics in rural Texas.[2] Conner was passed over for promotions regularly until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.[4] She was the first black woman director of the Maternal and Child Health in Texas.[5] By the time she retired in 1977, she had been promoted to the director of health services in Texas.[2]
Conner died on June 11, 1991, in Austin.[1] She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Austin, Texas.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Public Health Pioneer Dies at 83". The Odessa American. Associated Press. 1991-06-16. p. 14. Retrieved 2017-10-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Monsho, Kharen (12 June 2010). "Conner, Connie Yerwood". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Society. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ a b c Harvey, Bill (2003-02-01). Texas Cemeteries: The Resting Places of Famous, Infamous, and Just Plain Interesting Texans. University of Texas Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 9780292734661.
- ^ a b Winegarten, Ruthe; Kahn, Sharon (2010-07-22). Brave Black Women: From Slavery to the Space Shuttle. University of Texas Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 9780292785557.
- ^ "AAUW Member Accomplishments". AAUW Austin (TX) Branch. Archived from the original on 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
- 1900s births
- 1991 deaths
- People from Victoria, Texas
- People from Austin, Texas
- Huston–Tillotson University alumni
- Meharry Medical College alumni
- University of Michigan School of Public Health alumni
- 20th-century American women physicians
- 20th-century American physicians
- 20th-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American physicians