The first African American Woman to practice medicine in the state of Florida
History tends to forget a lot of people for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they were not loud enough, their geographic reach wasn’t considered sufficient, they had no scandal, they were a minority, they were a woman, etc. However, even if their impact didn’t carry their name into the future, they had impact in the lives and history of the people around them. There is little we can do about the people who are completely vanished by time, but we can give the stories of those not quite completely vanished a little more lasting purchase in the collective unconscious. For this month’s foray into history I wanted to learn about someone closer to my home: Dr. Carrie Effie Mitchell-Hampton, the first African American woman to practice medicine in the state of Florida.
Carrie Mitchell was born in Fernandina Beach, just north of Jacksonville in Nassau county. From her age as reported in her obituary, she would have been born around 1894/5, but other researchers have placed her birth at 1886. This 1886 date seems more probable since all sources seem to agree that she entered Meharry Medical School in 1904. If born in 1886, she would have been 18. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Most sources list that Mitchell grew up 130 miles southwest of Fernandina Beach, in Ocala, and that she attended both the Orange Park School for girls and Howard Academy. I assume that the Orange Park School for Girls is actually the Orange Park Normal and Manual Training School in Orange Park, just south of Jacksonville, not far from Fernandina Beach where she was born. Her time in Ocala would have started, then, when she left the greater Jacksonville area and started in Howard Academy. After Howard, she entered Meharry Medical School, in Nashville Tennessee, and graduated in 1908.
Sources don’t seem to agree on the order of what came next. Apparently she was licensed to practice medicine in Florida from 1906 to 1935, but this would have meant she obtained her license before returning to Ocala after graduating from medical school. She also owned and operated a drug store on Broadway street in downtown Ocala. Some sources claim she did this prior to becoming a doctor, but this timing doesn’t fit well with her graduation and her licensing. In 1915 she married a co-alumnus of Meharry Medical School and dentist Dr. Lee Royal Hampton. There is some mention that she gave up one of her businesses when she married. Since she reportedly practiced medicine for thirty, forty, or forty-five years, remaining the only African American woman to practice medicine through the 1920s and 1930s, I would assume that she ceased running her drug store, likely in operation from 1908 to 1915. She quickly filled her free time by helping to found, and then serving as the secretary for, the Florida Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association. She was often a speaker at conventions of medical professionals and was president of the Woman’s Convention in 1955.
The couple lived on Magnolia Street in Ocala while Dr. Carrie Hampton continued her practice, becoming one of Ocala’s most highly respected citizens. Her husband, Dr. L. R. Hampton, died sometime after having practiced dentistry in Ocala for 40 years. Dr. Carrie Hampton died in Halifax Hospital 12/13/1964 at the reported age of 69.
Figure from: Map of Florida According to Latest Authorities. Digital Collections, Tampa Library, University of South Florida. https://theleemsmachine.com/bean/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/mapoffloridaaccordingtolatestauthorities.jpg
Referenced
- Colburn, D. R., & Landers, J. (1995). The African American Heritage of Florida. University Press of Florida.
- “Dr. Carrie Hampton, Pioneer Negro Doctor” (1964) Tampa Bay Times. December 18.
- “Dr. Carrie Hampton, Thrift Hospital, and Medical Contributions” (n.d.) City of Ocala Recreation and Parks. https://ocala.oncell.com/en/dr-carrie-hampton-thrift-hospital-and-medical-contributions-251390.html
- Gibbons, P. (2016) One man’s war on Florida’s desegregated schools. RedefineED. https://www.redefinedonline.org/2016/09/war-florida-desegregated-private-schools/
- ‘Negro Speak’ (1936) Tampa Tribune. April 1.
- “Other Events” (1955) Tampa Bay Times. October 12th.
- Orange Park School. (1900) The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.), 10 Aug. 1900. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84027621/1900-08-10/ed-1/seq-3/>
- Smiley-Height, S. & McGinnes, L. (2020) First Ladies. Ocala Style Magazine. https://www.ocalastyle.com/first-ladies/
- “State’s First Negro Woman Doctor Dies” (1964) Tampa Tribune. December 14.