Research: Dr. Virginia Alexander

In 1931 Dr. Virginia Alexander founded the Aspiranto Health Home in her own house in Philadelphia. She cared for the very poorest members of her community, the third largest African American community in America at that time. As well as general medical care and emergency treatment, she and her colleague Dr. Helen Dickens delivered babies and ran parenting classes. During World War II she cared for coal and iron miners as a public health physician in Alabama, again providing much-needed medical services under the most difficult conditions.

Born in Philadelphia in 1900, the fourth of five children, Virginia Alexander was only four years old when her mother died, and at age thirteen, her father lost his once flourishing livery stable. She decided to leave school and earn the money needed to buy back the business, but her father was determined that she get a good education. Both Virginia Alexander and her brother eventually won scholarships to the University of Pennsylvania.

In order to pay for her living expenses at college, she worked as a maid, a clerk, a waitress, and any other position that would help pay her way. With gifts from local philanthropists, Alexander completed medical school as a model student. She ranked second highest among medical aptitude test examinees after her entry into the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. African American physicians were discriminated against in many medical institutions, and no Philadelphia hospital would accept Alexander for practical training. She moved to Kansas City for her internship instead. Within a few years, she was back in Philadelphia, running her own community health clinic and serving on the faculty of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Alexander's Aspiranto Health Home, which she founded to serve Philadelphia's poor in 1931, also provided care for new mothers and their babies. Despite lack of funds (many patients could not afford to pay for their care), services included two weeks of post-natal recuperation at the health home.

In 1937, Dr. Alexander earned her master's degree in public health at Yale University, and accepted a position at Howard University in Washington, D.C, where she was appointed physician-in-charge of women students. She also ran a private health practice and worked for the U.S. Department of Health. When World War II broke out, physicians from across the country were dispatched to military bases at home and abroad to care for the injured, leaving many groups at home desperate for medical are. Alexander volunteered for the government, and was sent to the coalfields of Birmingham, Alabama, to treat coal and iron miners living in extreme poverty. It was there that she developed lupus, an autoimmune disease that would ultimately lead to her death at age 49.

Virginia Alexander made the very best of far from ideal circumstances to care for America's most neglected populations. Often working in difficult conditions without charging any fees for her services, she brought proper medical care to disadvantaged African American patients and families. As she said in 1946, "we will have to send physicians into sections which have no bright lights and... take public health across the railroad tracks, to serve those most in need of comfort and care."

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Dr. Virginia Margaret Alexander was a remarkable physician and public health advocate who made significant contributions to healthcare for underserved communities in the early 20th century. Here are some additional details about her life and work:

1. Early Life and Education:

• Born on February 4, 1899, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

• Her parents were both born into slavery.

• She lost her mother at the age of 4 and faced financial difficulties when her father's livery stable business failed.

• Despite these challenges, she pursued higher education, attending the University of Pennsylvania and later the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

2. Professional Achievements:

• Graduated from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1925, ranking second highest among medical aptitude test examinees.

• Became the first woman physician in Missouri during her internship at Kansas City General Hospital.

• Founded the Aspiranto Health Home in Philadelphia in 1931, providing healthcare to the poorest members of the African American community.

• Earned a master's degree in public health from Yale University in 1937.

• Served as physician-in-charge of women students at Howard University.

• Worked with the US Public Health Service from 1943 to 1945 at the Slossfield Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.

3. Research and Advocacy:

• Published several works on African American health issues, including "The Social, Economic, and Health Problems of North Philadelphia Negroes" (1935) and "The Health Status and Needs of the Negro Adolescent" (1940).

• Exposed discrimination and racism faced by Black patients and physicians in the American medical system.

• Advocated for improved public health practices for African American patients.

4. Personal Life:

• Became a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1931.

• Reportedly had a romantic relationship with W.E.B. Du Bois in the 1930s.

• Married William Childs in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1945.

• Never had children of her own.

5. Legacy:

• Over five years at the Aspiranto Health Home, she saw two thousand patients and delivered forty-three babies, including the granddaughter of W.E.B. Du Bois.

• Known as the "guardian of the health of Negro women" for her work with Black mothers and newborns.

• Her life and work continue to inspire healthcare professionals and activists today.

Dr. Alexander passed away on July 24, 1949, at the age of 50, due to complications from lupus. Despite her relatively short life, her impact on public health and her dedication to serving neglected populations left a lasting legacy in the field of medicine and social justice.