Our second Black History Month spotlight goes to a pioneer of medicine in the Cincinnati area, Lucy Oxley – the first African American to graduate from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Lucy Oxley was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1912. During her childhood, her family moved to Cincinnati, as her father was named rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. As a young girl, Oxley looked up to three of her uncles who became doctors and knew early on that she wanted to be one too. She graduated early from Woodward High School and joined the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine’s six-year undergraduate and medical program.
During her time at UC, Oxley excelled, working hard to earn her spot in the group of top fifteen students who would have the chance to intern at General Hospital (UC Medical Center). However, she was refused an internship spot. When she questioned Dr. Alfred Friedlander about why she wasn’t given an internship, he said to her, “Lucy, you are a negro, and we don’t want you.” Oxley replied, “Well Dr. Friedlander, I wouldn’t change that for anything.” Rising above the prejudice, she went on to complete her internship at Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, DC, and returned to Cincinnati to join her classmates for graduation on June 5, 1936.
After graduation, Oxley became a medical director for student wellness at Bennett College in North Carolina, and then Wilberforce College here in Ohio. Following that, she had a daughter, Francine, and returned to Cincinnati where she started her general practice. In 1945 she began working in cancer research alongside fellow UC grad, George Sperti. A few years later she returned to full-time practice in family medicine where she cared for thousands of patients and families.
Later in life, Oxley was diagnosed with lung cancer but continued to treat patients up until her passing in 1991. She is remembered today for her dedication to those she cared for and for paving the way for young African Americans who aim to make a difference in the medical field just as she did.
To learn more about Lucy Oxley’s life and contributions to the world of medicine, visit the Source newsletter link: https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/lucy-oxley-md-a-pioneer-and-servant-leader/
Or watch Drs. Felson and Goodman interview Dr. Oxley as part of the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions Oral History Series. https://uclid-uc-edu.uc.idm.oclc.org/record=b1410475
Felicia Zamora is the author of six books of poetry including, I Always Carry My Bones, winner of the 2020 Iowa Poetry Prize (University of Iowa Press, 2021) and the 2022 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry, and Body of Render, Benjamin Saltman Award winner (Red Hen Press, 2020). She won the 2022 Loraine Williams Poetry Prize from The Georgia Review, a 2022 Tin House Next Book Residency, and a 2022 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, AGNI, The American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry 2022, Boston Review, Georgia Review, Guernica, Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, Orion, Poetry Magazine, The Nation and others. She is an assistant professor of poetry at the University of Cincinnati and associate poetry editor for the Colorado Review.