Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson Notable Black American Women, December 20, 1992 From U.S. History in Context Born: October 17, 1864 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Died: April 26, 1901 Nationality: American Occupation: Physician A black American woman who was to become known as a person of uncommon ability and the first black woman and first woman ever admitted on examination to practice medicine in Alabama, Halle (Hallie) Tanner Dillon Johnson was born on October 17, 1864, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was the eldest daughter and one of nine children of Benjamin Tucker Tanner and Sarah Elizabeth (Miller) Tanner. (Her death certificate lists 1865 as her birth date and Gerri Major, Black Society, gives 1863.) Johnson's parents married in 1858. Her father, who was born in 1835 of free black parents in Pittsburgh (his father's name was Hugh), received a college education before the Civil War, and supported his studies at Avery College by working as a barber. Her mother had been a teacher in Pittsburgh. After marriage, Benjamin Tanner became a successful minister, editor of the Christian Recorder, the AME Church Review, and finally a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church. Two of the Tanner children died in infancy and the others lived into adulthood. Three of them attained more than ordinary distinction. Halle Tanner became a physician, Carlton Tanner became a minister in his mother's church, and Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was a gifted and celebrated painter of landscapes, religious themes, and genre subjects. He was named in honor of abolitionist John Brown--given the middle name Ossawa, derived from Osawatomie, Kansas, where Brown fought proslavery men. Benjamin and Sarah Elizabeth Tanner had a profound impact on the cultural development of their children. They also exposed them to the works of prominent black artists Edward M. Bannister and Edmonia Lewis. The family unit had always been strong, and Sarah Tanner devoted her time to the welfare of the family. Their residence, 2908 Diamond Street in Philadelphia, "was for over a quarter of a century a rest haven to the traveler and a solace to the family" (Brown). As president and treasurer of the Parent Mite Missionary Society of her church, she had to attend quarterly meetings of the group, which were great moments in the family's history. Her remarkable contribution to humanity caused Hallie Quinn Brown to recognize Sarah Elizabeth Tanner in a brief essay in Homespun Heroines (32-33). Indeed, the Tanner family had uncommon ability. The details of Johnson's early life and education are unavailable in any known sources. She married Charles E. Dillon of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1886 and they had one child, Sadie, born in 1887. Nothing more is said of Dillon's life. According to Johnson's grandniece, Rae AlexanderMinter, Dillon died but his death date is unknown (Letter to Jessie Carney Smith, 17 August 1990). At the age of twentyfour, Johnson entered the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia, completed a three-year course, and graduated in a class of thirty-six women on May 7, 1891, with high honor. Tuskegee Institute (now University) in Alabama had an opening for its first resident physician. Booker T. Washington, president of the school, had searched for four years to secure a black American resident physician to treat and minister to local health needs. White doctors in town had attended to the sick,
charged moderate fees, and had been cordial and affable in their manners. But Washington felt "the growing need of broadening out its work and putting this responsible charge in the hands of one of the members of the race, if one could be found capable and venturesome enough to stand the rigorous examination which the State of Alabama gives to all applicants who desire to practice medicine within its borders" (Atlanta University Bulletin, n.p.). Washington wrote to the dean of the Woman's Medical College in search of a black graduate for the position. Johnson responded and expressed interest in the position. In response, Washington wrote to Dillon: I am in receipt of yours of April 9 and in reply would say that we expect to have in the future a resident physician at the institution and prefer a lady. It is my intention to pass through Philadelphia either in May or June and at one of which times I shall like to see you, provided you think it well to consider our proposition. I will not make our offer binding until I have seen you. In the meantime I write the facts in reference to the position so that you will let me know whether or not you are inclined to consider the offer favorably. We will pay a salary of $600 a year with board for twelve months' work.... This is with the understanding that you would teach two classes a day, if necessary, and take full charge of the health department. We should expect you to compound your own medicine as far as possible. We are making our purchases of drugs at wholesale rates. Our greatest out-lay at present is for medicine. We are compelled to buy in small quantities at the local drug stores (Booker T. Washington to Halle Tanner Dillon, 16 April, 1891). The Booker T. Washington Papers report conflicting dates of Halle Tanner's letter to Washington. At that time Alabama was already requiring physicians who wished to practice in the state to pass either a local or state examination. Washington advised her that she could take either examination and expressed confidence that, although she was black, she would encounter no racial practices in the examinations. She would need to pass the examination and begin work at Tuskegee on September 1, 1891. Washington described the city and noted the provisions that Johnson would have for additional income: Tuskegee is a town of about 3000 inhabitants, over half colored. In addition to the salary named... we have in connection with the institution 30 officers and teachers, seven or eight of these have families. This would have nothing to do with your school work and the compensation would be extra. We have never had a resident physician, I think you would like the work here as it is entirely in the hands of colored people.... (Booker T. Washington to Halle Tanner Dillon, 16 April 1891). The salary would be modest, she was advised, but Tuskegee, like other black colleges of that era, attracted good faculty and administrators who were willing to come for the good of the cause. Tuskegee was supported by charity and workers who had a missionary spirit. "Halle and Mr. Washington met in Philadelphia in the spring of... 1891, and he assured her and her father that Tuskegee would be the right place for a young black doctor to begin her career" (Rae Alexander-
Minter to Jessie Carney Smith, 17 August 1990). Tuskegee Appoints First Black Resident Physician Dillon accepted the challenge and arrived at Tuskegee in August 1891. She became acquainted with the facilities, and several days later she left for Montgomery to prepare for the state examinations. "Mr. Washington had arranged for her to study for the strenuous exam with Dr. Cornelius Nathaniel Dorsette, who practiced medicine in Montgomery and was the first black physician to pass the Alabama medical examinations" (Rae Alexander-Minter to Jessie Carney Smith). Bishop Tanner was concerned over his daughter's success and wrote to Washington: Of course, we are all anxious about the Doctor. Not that we have any misgivings as to her ability to pass any reasonable and just examination. But we know that both her sex and her color will be against her (20 August 1891). The Tuskegee Student, a campus publication, cited the appointment and gave an account of her examination by the state board--the examination that she elected to take. The fact that a black American woman was to sit for the examination and the record that she established caused quite a local and national stir. The examination was held in Montgomery without incident, and she was well received and courteously treated. As the examination was underway, there was public interest in seeing this person who, considering her color and gender and the race relations in Alabama at that time, dared sit for the test. The public was curious about such simple matters as "how she looked." She had been tested in ten subjects, each occupying a full day. The examination ended and the supervisor of the board was impressed with the neatness and cleanliness of her work. She returned to Tuskegee, expecting to hear the results of the examination within one week. Nearly three weeks passed before she was to learn that she had an average of 78.81--a grade that elated Johnson but led her to conclude that the "critical medical pen has been perhaps too rigorously applied to her papers" (Atlanta University Bulletin). The conservatism of the medical profession in regard to black Americans notwithstanding, the press considered Johnson's record a signal victory. It must have made some change in southern white thought, especially among those who doubted the black American's ability to meet the challenges of various professions, particularly medicine. The passing of the examination meant that Dillon had become the first black American woman to practice medicine in Alabama. She also became "the first woman ever admitted on examination to practice medicine in Alabama." But the systematic discrimination against blacks had prevailed earlier when Anna M. Longshore, a white woman, failed the medical examination yet was admitted to practice medicine in Alabama before Dillon took the examination and passed. While at first Alabama newspapers "ridiculed the fact that a Negro was even to appear before the State board," once she became a qualified practitioner all major newspapers in the state noted her achievement. Johnson remained as resident physician at Tuskegee from 1891 to 1894. During her stay she established a Nurses' Training School and the Lafayette Dispensary. In 1894 she married the Reverend John Quincy Johnson, who in 18931894 taught mathematics at the institute. In 1894-1895 John Quincy Johnson was president of Allen University, a private black college in Columbia, South Carolina. The Johnsons moved to Nashville, where he pastored Saint Paul AME Church from 1900 to 1903. They lived at 1010 South Cherry Street.
G. F. Ritchings, author of Evidences of Progress Among Colored People, reported that he visited Halle Johnson while the Johnsons were living in Princeton, New Jersey. He found her home "neatly kept" and she gave "every evidence of culture and refinement about the household." (412). The Johnsons had three sons--john Quincy, Jr., Benjamin T., and Henry Tanner. Halle Tanner Johnson died at home in Nashville during childbirth complicated by dysentery on April 26, 1901, when she was approximately thirty-seven years old. Her occupation at the time was listed as housekeeper. She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Family members known to be living today are the Johnsons' grandchildren, John Quincy Johnson of Sharon, Massachusetts; Joseph Johnson of Washington, D.C.; and Benjamin Tanner Johnson, Jr., of Berkeley, California. Two grandnieces-rae Alexander- Minter, of the Bronx, New York, and Mary A. Brown, of Washington, D.C., also survive. Further Readings Alexander-Minter, Rae. "The Tanner Family: A Grandniece's Chronicle." Henry Ossawa Tanner. Exhibition catalog. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1991. Includes photograph of the Tanner family. ------. Telephone interview with author. 14 July, 1990, 17 August 1990. 20 August 1990. ------. Letter to author. 17 August 1990. Atlanta University Bulletin. November 1891. Quotes article from The Tuskegee Student. Bearden, Romare, and Harry Henderson. Six Black Masters of American Art. New York: Doubleday, 1972. Photograph of Halle Tanner Johnson's parents, p. 45. Brown, Hallie Quinn. Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction. Xenia, Ohio: Aldine Pub. Co., 1926. Includes a photograph and biographical sketch of Sarah Elizabeth Tanner, Halle Tanner Johnson's mother, and information on the Tanner family. Contributions of Black Women to America. Vol. 2. Ed. Marlanna W. Davis. Columbia, S.C.: Kenday Press,. 1982. Includes a photograph of the 1891 graduating class of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dannett, Sylvia G. L. Profiles of Negro Womanhood. Vol. 1, 1619-1900. Yonkers, N.Y.: Educational Heritage, 1964. Harlan, Louis, ed. The Booker T. Washington Papers. Vol. 3, 1889-95. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972. Major, Gerri, with Doris Saunders. Black Society. Chicago: Johnson Pub. Co., 1976. (Gives genealogical chart of the Richard Tanner family (free blacks in Pittsburgh on 19 August 1858, and Halle Tanner Johnson's paternal grandfather). Mossell, Mrs. N. F.. The Work of the Afro-American Woman. Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson, 1908. Reprinted. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries, 1971. Ritchings, G. F.. Evidences of Progress Among Colored People. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson Company, 1896. Photograph, p. 411. Sterling, Dorothy, ed. We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Norton, 1984. Photograph with classmates, Woman's Medical College, p. 448. Wright, R. R., Jr., ed. Encyclopedia of African Methodism. Philadelphia, AME Book Concern, 1916. Includes photograph of John Quincy Johnson. Collections
Halle Tanner Johnson's papers are in the University of Pennsylvania archives. A small collection of clippings, photographs, and medical college records are in the Archives and Special Collections on Women in Medicine as a part of the Black Women Physicians Project, the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Some items are also in the Booker T. Washington Papers in the Library of Congress and published in The Booker T. Washington Papers, vol. 3, 1889-1899. Her death certificate is on file in the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville. Source Citation "Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson." Notable Black American Women. Gale, 1992. U.S. History in Context. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/referencedetailspage/referencedetailswindow?fail OverType=&query=&prodId=UHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=& amp;display-query=&mode=view&displaygroupname=reference&limiter=& ;currpage=&disablehighlighting=false&displaygroups=&sortby=&sear ch_within_results=&p=uhic%3awhic&action=e&catid=&activitytype=&a mp; scanid=&documentid=gale%7ck1623000232&source=bookmark&u=mlin_s_sh aronms&jsid=26e83a28eba8189b5b69489017d4672a Gale Document Number: GALE K1623000232