Justina Ford Medical Society Records
Scope and Contents
Collection includes reports, organizational information, newspaper clippings, correspondence and articles relating to the medical society.
Dates
- 1975-1996
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Copyright
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.
Biographical / Historical
Justina Laurena Warren was born in 1871 in Knoxville, Illinois. She grew up in Galesburg, Illinois and graduated from Hering Medical College in Chicago in 1899. She married John Ford, a Baptist minister, in 1892 and they later moved to Denver, Colorado, when John was transferred to Zion Baptist Church. After initially being denied her medical license and membership in the Colorado Medical Association, she became the first African American woman physician licensed to practice medicine in Colorado. As a doctor breaking down barriers for African Americans and women, Ford also worked as a humanitarian. Her service has been recognized in many ways, including naming the Justina Ford Medical Society, and the Ford-Warren Library in honor of her. As of 2012, her former home houses the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center. The Colorado Medical Society, which denied Ford membership until 1950, passed a resolution in 1989 honoring her posthumously "as an outstanding figure in the development and furtherance of health care in Colorado." Justina and Rev. Ford were divorced in 1915. She later married Alfred Allen. Ford continued her medical practice until just weeks before her death in 1952.
Extent
1 Boxes (.5 linear feet)
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift, unknown donor, unknown date.
General
Catalog record based on preliminary inventory.
- African American physicians -- Colorado -- Denver. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Organization files Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Women physicians -- Colorado -- Denver. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Denver Public Library, Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library Repository
2401 Welton St.
Denver Colorado 80205
