From Cotton Fields to Medicine

By Dr. Hazel Coley-Greene M.D.

At the age of forty-four, my mother set out to accomplish what no other American woman of color had achieved at her ageto graduate and receive a doctorate of medicine and surgery from the Universite Lobre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

She walked two and a half miles daily from the cotton fields to a one-room school that housed grades one through seven taught by one teacher. But it was her thirst of knowledge that would sustain her and carry her to a great adventure across the Atlantic.

We hope that the content of these pages will inspire many other young persons to strive and become whatever they wish to become, overcoming any obstacles and defying all odds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514411667

Dr. Hazel Coley-Greene M.D.

Dr. Hazel Coley-Greene was born in 1908, the fifth child of eleven, of tenant farmers in rural North Carolina, and therefore her prospects for education were not encouraging. She began her studies at the age of six in a one-room wooden schoolhouse two and one half miles from home, a journey made by foot come rain or shine. She entered high school at the age of sixteen and graduated from Shaw University eight years later. After a teaching career, marrying, and motherhood, she decided to study medicine; she had been out of school twenty years. She enrolled in medical school, faced hostile male professors, much younger classmates, illness, and many obstacles but received medical degree in 1960. She became New York board certified in 1966 and practiced for several years at Harlem and Beth Abraham Hospitals.

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Copyright © 2008 by Dr. Hazel Coley-Greene, MD.

ISBN:      eBook      978-1-5144-1166-7

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Rev. date: 09/25/2015

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Contents

Foreword

Chapter One Early Childhood

Chapter Two School Days

Chapter Three Leaving Childhood

Chapter Four The Tide Turns

Chapter Five The Doctoral Years

Chapter Six The Beginning of the End

Chapter Seven A Dream Realized

Epilogue

This book is

dedicated to

my cousin NANCY

who took time out from her busy life

to comfort my heart.

THANK YOU

To the DUNAMS Family,

      Whose concern helped me through the trying time;

To CASSIE,

      Whose friendship helped through the crying time;

To PAT PATTERSON,

      Whose presence helped through the darkest time;

To GOD,

      Who is there for me all of the time.

SPECIAL THANKS

      To XANTHENE, my best friend, for comfort, trust, and faith.

      To SHERRI, my heart of gold, for immeasurable fidelity.

      To YASMIN, YAEL, and YOUSTON, my grandchildren, for love.

Foreword

At the age of forty-four, my mother set out to accomplish what no other American woman of color had achieved at her age—to graduate and receive a Doctorate of Medicine and Surgery from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

She walked two and a half miles daily from the cotton fields to a one-room school that housed grades one through seven taught by one teacher. But it was her thirst for knowledge that would sustain her and carry her to a great adventure across the Atlantic.

We hope that the content of these pages will inspire many other young persons to strive and become whatever they wish to become, overcoming any obstacles and defying all odds.

Autobiographies provide insight into the past, present, and future, as they are passed from generation to generation.

They contribute to the family fiber.

They can also assist in establishing one’s self-worth, and identity for ages to come, thus meshing a sense of belonging and family heritage.

Lillie Coley-Greene

Chapter One

Early Childhood

I am a product of the fifth conception of my parents—a long awaited female, especially by my father, since there were already five males including a multiple birth. I was born April 7, 1908, in the township of Saulston, North Carolina. The unusual circumstance about my birth was that I was the first girl. I was born in a house which was formerly occupied by the owner of the plantation who had migrated to the nearby city of Goldsboro.

My mother was a beautiful, dashing country girl with long black hair who married my father in 1898 at the age of twenty-one. Her name was Lillie Isabel Lewis. She was a native of Selma, North Carolina, and her parents were tenant farmers—a skill learned directly from her grandmother’s people, Cherokee Indians who settled in that region. It was from them that she learned the art of being a very efficient housewife and helpmate to her husband, who had acquired the knowledge of a proficient farmer.

Her parents were Hack Lewis and Clara Etta Shirrod and together they had two daughters and five sons and they both lived until each child was grown, which is desirable in the life of all parents.

The first daughter was named Nancy Lewis and she married a Hawkins. She and her four brothers chose to be city dwellers while my mother and her brother, Joseph Berry Lewis, remained on the farm. My Uncle Needham and Uncle Willie Hack Lewis pursued apprentices as brick masons and house constructors in Raleigh, Goldsboro, and several other cities in North Carolina—which was an outstanding achievement and today some of their works are still standing.

My Uncle James Leonard was a fireman in Norfolk, Virginia, and finally in Roxbury and Milton, Massachusetts, where he reared his family of two daughters and one son. His wife was named Blanche Hankins Lewis. My Uncle Barney migrated to Buffalo, New York, followed the trade of cabinetmaker, and had one son who became a successful carpenter as well.

My Uncle William Hack, whom I mentioned, fathered two sons who followed his trade and two daughters who were teachers. Uncle Needham, the other brick mason, was married to Hattie Wooten but had no children, so he took an active interest in the females born to his sister and brothers by attempting to send them to school. Since I was the eldest of the females born in the family on my mother’s side, I was the first one to receive financial assistance toward a higher education. When contacted, I had graduated from high school, which was in 1928, and he wanted me to go to college instead of nurse’s training which I was about to pursue. He stated that he wanted me to go to college because he wanted me to be a Great Woman. Going to college to him was a great achievement and subconsciously, that idea stuck with me and during my struggle, when the going would get rough, I want you to be a great woman would serve as a booster to my endeavor.

Another idea which also gave me courage when I needed it came from my Aunt Nancy. We were riding with our family doctor one night and out of the blue she said, You know, she might read medicine someday. There was nothing in her conversation at the time that prompted her to make such a statement, but the thought of it boosted me whenever I needed to be.

My mother’s people on a whole were considered aggressive in spite of their lack of formal education. My mother was born in 1876 and attended the one-room school in the vicinity for about three months out of the year for several years. She was able to read, write, and understand basic arithmetic. She was interested in the domestic aspect of homemaking and at an early age learned how to cook and sew—skills she learned from her grandmother. So when it became necessary to be out in public life, she and her sister, Nancy were able to make their own clothes, which was a credit to the family and was admired by the whole community. She did not have a job outside of the family circle so she spent a great deal of time assisting her mother with the younger children; and because she was very proud and beautiful, she had no trouble attracting the opposite sex; and when the gentlemen would see her going by, they would stand at attention until she was well out of sight. Then they would make complimentary remarks about the way she carried herself and her personal appearance. She was considered the most beautiful girl in the township and she was almost at this stage of development when she met my father.

My father was named James Ervin Coley. His parents were Rachael Exum and Peter Coley, who was a direct descendant of the slave master Coley line. I remember that there were three sons and eight daughters and almost all of them had several children of their own. They were all tenant farmers and many of the children followed the same occupation and there was no special skills exhibited or family customs manifested. He was born on January 10, 1864, in the township of Stantonburg, North Carolina, Wilson County. He grew up in that vicinity but later migrated to Boston, Massachusetts, with his cousin who finally settled there. During his stay he was employed by the Stanford Memorial Hotel as a waiter and he thought seriously of remaining in Boston until he was bereaved by the death of one of his sisters and was unable to attend the funeral. So he vowed that he would never be so far away that he could not be present on another such occasion. When he was asked why he did not return to Boston after he had married, he remarked several times that he would rather be a king in his own province than be an underdog in the big city. All in all, I don’t think his desire was to be so far removed from his family. During his early childhood, he remained with the family and assisted in rearing the younger children since he was the eldest son; but as he approached manhood, he would hire himself out to other farmers in his community. He did not show or manifest any special skill, but whatever he did, he did it well and he developed the art of an efficient farmer.

His schooling was sparse. His school was a one-room shack, but he often referred to his teacher, Mr. John Skinner, who was responsible for his meager book training and his ardor for reading in which he developed a great skill. In his middle years, during World War I, he was the center of attraction of his neighbors by describing the war as though he was on the front line. He bought books of all the wars, as much as he could obtain, and spoke intelligently about each one of them. His knowledge along those lines were phenomenal.

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Pop taking a rest on the farm circa, 1911

During the early 1900s, the horse and buggy and the horse and wagon were the vogue especially for the poor and black. For amusement, the people of the many rural areas enjoyed picnics, ball games, set dancing, etc., especially by Saturday when the week’s work had come to an end. One beautiful Saturday afternoon,