HALLE TANNER DILLION JOHNSON
Physician
1864-1901
Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson was born on this day in 1864, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
As a physician, she became the first woman ever admitted, on examination, to
practice medicine in Alabama. It is worth noting that her brother was Henry
Ossawa Tanner, famed painter of religious themes and landscapes. Upon
graduating with honors from the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia, Booker
T. Washington of Tuskegee offered her the school's first resident physician
position. Washington specifically desired a Black to fill this position;
however, finding one, coupled with the requirement of passing Alabama's
rigorous medical examination, ended a four-year search that led to Halle.
Shortly after her arrival to Tuskegee, Washington had arranged for her to go
to Montgomery and prepare for the ten course-ten day exam with Dr. Cornelius
Nathaniel Dorsette, the first
black physician to pass the
Alabama medical exam.
Considering her color, sex and Alabama, Halle's
attempt gained national attention. Three weeks later, Halle recieved her
results...YES!
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Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson
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