Georgia Rooks Dwelle
*The birth of Georgia Rooks Dwelle is celebrated on this date in 1884. She was a Black physician who specialized in obstetrics and pediatrics.
Georgia Rooks Dwelle was born in Albany, Georgia, to former slaves Rev. George Henry Dwelle and Eliza (Dickerson) Dwelle. Her father was a founder of the Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia and a trustee of Spelman Seminary in Atlanta. Initially, Dwelle followed her father's career interests and attended Walker Baptist Institute, where she later graduated from Spelman Seminary. She was the first person from Spelman to attend a medical school. Dwelle graduated with honors from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1904. She took extra courses at local colleges to overcome not having a pre-medical undergraduate course of study. Dwelle returned to Augusta, Georgia, to sit for the Georgia State Medical Board Examination, and she received the top exam score that year and was recognized for her "unusual ability and thoroughness."
After passing the Georgia State Medical Board Examination in 1904, she was one of only three African American women physicians in Georgia. Dwelle practiced in Augusta for two years. 1906, she relocated to Atlanta to establish an obstetric and pediatric practice. When Dwelle began to practice medicine, Jim Crow laws and social customs in Georgia required racial segregation. To set up a successful medical practice to care for patients, Dwelle had to prevail over legal barriers and social conventions that assumed she was less qualified than a white physician.
Dwelle rented rooms at 14 Boulevard Avenue in northeast Atlanta to provide hospital care for her patients. Dwelle Infirmary was incorporated in 1920. The Infirmary operated out of the same rented rooms for twenty-seven years until Dwelle retired. Dwelle was a member of the National Medical Association (a professional organization for African American physicians), chaired the Association's Pediatric Commission, and was an officer of the John A. Andrew Clinical Society.
She served on national and international committees, including the International Children's Fund Committee, the American Social Hygiene Association, and the Child-Youth Commission of the United States. Georgia Rooks Dwelle retired in 1949 and moved to Chicago with her second husband. She died in 1977.
