John A. Kenney Sr.
Born(1874-06-11)June 11, 1874
Albemarle County, Virginia
DiedJanuary 29, 1950(1950-01-29) (aged 75)
Montclair, New Jersey
EducationHampton University, Leonard Medical School
RelativesJohn A. Kenney Jr. (son)
William Oscar Armstrong (father-in-law)[1]
Medical career
ProfessionSurgeon
FieldSurgery

John Andrew Kenney Sr. (June 11, 1874 – January 29, 1950) was an African-American surgeon who was the medical director and chief surgeon of the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, from 1902 to 1922. He served as secretary of the National Medical Association (NMA) from 1904 to 1912, and was elected president of the NMA in 1912.[2] He was the editor-in-chief of its journal, the Journal of the National Medical Association, from 1916 to 1948.[3] He also served as the personal physician of both Booker T. Washington[4] and George Washington Carver.[5]

Biography

John A. Kenney was born in Albemarle County, Virginia on June 11, 1874. He was educated at Hampton Institute and Shaw University, and earned his medical degree from Leonard Medical College in 1901.[6]

After fleeing Tuskegee in 1924 under threat from the KKK,[7] he first took refuge in Dr. George E. Cannon's home.[8] He went on to found the Kenney Memorial Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Between 1927 and 1934, Kenney Memorial served 4,543 bed patients, 584 free clinic patients and performed 1,109 operations with only 19 deaths.[9] The hospital was renamed the Booker T. Washington Community Hospital in 1935. It closed in 1953.[5] The building was purchased by the New Salem Baptist Church in 1959[10] and is on the National Register of Historic Places.[11] A museum honoring Kenney is planned for the site.[9]

In 1939, Kenney returned to Tuskegee to head the Tuskegee Institute Hospital. In 1944, Kenney moved back to Montclair, New Jersey and saw patients at his home, alongside his son John A. Kenney Jr. The Kenneys were a medical family: sons John A. Jr. and Howard were doctors, and daughter Elizabeth Kenney Quisenberry worked with Dr. M.O. Bousfield, who became president of the National Medical Association. Middle son Oscar Kenney was a Tuskegee Airmen killed in action in World War II. Kenney's wife Frieda Kenney was the first African-American woman to graduate from Boston University.[12]

He died at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey on January 29, 1950.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "William Oscar Armstrong". The Boston Globe. May 23, 1932.
  2. ↑ "John A. Kenney Jr., 89". Washington Post. December 7, 2003. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  3. ↑ "John Andrew Kenney, M.D., 1874-1950". Journal of the National Medical Association. 48 (1): 75. January 1956. PMC 2641163. PMID 20893791.
  4. ↑ Morrison, Sheena M.; Fee, Elizabeth (April 1, 2010). "The Journal of the National Medical Association: A Voice for Civil Rights and Social Justice". American Journal of Public Health. 100 (S1): S70–S71. doi:10.2105/ajph.2009.175042. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 2837443. PMID 20147673.
  5. 1 2 "Guide to the Papers of John A. Kenney" (PDF). Tuskegee University. 2009. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ Richardson, Clement, ed. (1919). The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Montgomery, Alabama: National Publishing Company. p. 45. Retrieved November 23, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ "Dr. John A. Kenney, Sr". SoulVision Magazine. March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  8. ↑ George Dows Cannon, Medicine Plus: The Autobiography of a Black Doctor, unpublished, p. 17
  9. 1 2 NJ.com, Barry Carter | NJ Advance Media for (February 1, 2020). "Pioneering doc opened N.J. hospital for black patients. Museum will honor him". nj. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  10. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places" (PDF). 2005.
  11. ↑ "Kenney Memorial Hospital · DANA". dana.njit.edu. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  12. ↑ Orel, Gwen (March 2018). "History & Heritage: Dr. John Kenney's healing and hope, from Tuskegee to Montclair | Montclair Local News". www.montclairlocal.news. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Obituary: Dr. John A. Kenney, Noted Surgeon". Paterson Evening News. Montclair. AP. January 30, 1950. p. 61. Retrieved November 23, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.


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