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Marjorie Peebles-Meyers
Physician
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BIOGRAPHY
Dr.
Marjorie Peebles-Meyers was born to Mary Elizabeth
and James Milton Peebles on October 6, 1915 in New
York, New York. She attended Hunter College High
School and Hunter College in New York City, graduating
with a B.A. in 1937. After completing an M.A. in
psychology at Columbia University, Dr. Peebles-Meyers
entered Howard University Medical School. In 1940,
she left Howard University and entered Wayne (now
Wayne State) University Medical School from which
she was the first black woman graduate in 1943.
Following
medical school, she received positions as an intern
and a resident at Detroit Receiving (then Detroit
General) Hospital, again being the first black
woman to do so. She completed her residency in
internal medicine in 1947 and entered what is
considered to be the first interracial private
practice in Detroit with Drs. A.B. Henderson and
Eugene Shafarman in 1947. The original location
of the practice was near the Detroit Medical Center
on John R Street, only a few blocks away from
the Detroit Institute of Arts. Dr. Peebles-Meyers
was in private practice until 1977.
Dr.
Peebles-Meyers was granted Junior Attending Physician
status in the Department of Medicine of Hutzel
(then Woman's) Hospital after she passed her board
exam in 1950. She was promoted to the position
of Senior Attending Physician in 1963 and held
that position until 1979. During the 1950's and
1960's, Dr. Peebles-Meyers also had courtesy admitting
privileges at Evangelical Deaconess and Alexander
Blain Hospitals. From 1977 to 1985, she was Chief
Physician for Ford Motor Company at the World
Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Dr. Peebles-Meyers
was also a clinical associate professor in the
Department of Medicine at Wayne State University
Medical School.
Her
professional and civic affiliations have included
memberships in the National Medical Association,
American Medical Association, Detroit Medical
Society, Detroit Urban League (where she served
on the Board of Trustees, 1950-1965), United Community
Services, and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
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Tape
recorded interview;
Detroit, MI
14 April 1997 |
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| Discusses
how her medical school experience was affected by her
African American identity:
"I
really can't think of an episode, as far as faculty
are concerned, that was discriminatory. The real
miserable thing, and miserable because, you know,
if something is on merit and you don't get it,
that's one thing. But, I saw this day all these
white envelopes [in] the [mail] boxes, [except
mine]. You [could] tell, you know this was Betty
Reid and this was the other Betty, and so forth
and so on, so I asked a question. I said to one
of the girls with whom I was particularly friendly,
Charlotte Mersky, I said, "What is this about?"
And her reply was, "Marjorie, I knew you
were going to ask me, and I just wish I didn't
have to tell you." So I said, "Well,
what...?" She said, "Well, these are
bids for the sorority." There was a woman's
medical sorority that had nothing to do with merit.
Everybody who was a woman in medical school was...but
I was not acceptable. Only on the basis of my
race."
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