In Memoriam

Hannibal E. Howell Jr. (1932-2009)

Hannibal E. Howell Jr., a physician and longtime medical director at historically black Hampton University in Virginia, has died at the age of 77.

In 1955, after graduating from what was the Hampton Institute, Dr. Howell was the first African American to enroll at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. And he was the first African American to complete his residency at the George Washington University Hospital.

M. Delmar Edwards (1926-2009)

M. Delmar Edwards, the first African American to graduate from the medical school at the University of Arkansas and a founding trustee of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, died last month in Columbus, Georgia, after a long illness. He was 83 years old.

In 1964 Dr. Edwards moved from his home state of Arkansas to Columbus, Georgia. At the time he was the only black surgeon in the city and because he held a medical degree from a predominantly white medical school, he was the only black physician in the city who was allowed to admit patients to the local hospital.

For his efforts as a mentor to dozens of young black medical students and doctors,  a scholarship in Dr. Edwards' name has been established at the Morehouse School of Medicine.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.