George R Ferguson Sr.
Dr. George Rutherford Ferguson Sr. (1878 – 1932) was a physician and prominent member of Charlottesville's Black community in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His son, George R Ferguson Jr. had a funeral home and was president of the Charlottesville NAACP during the 1950's. Granddaughter Olivia Ferguson was one of the Charlottesville Twelve, who led the 1959 desegregation of city schools.
Biography
Ferguson was born around 1878 in Ohio. He married Luella Brown (August 15, 1875 - April 9, 1924) of Washington, D.C., on November 9, 1904, and they had one son, named George and one daughter, named Louise. After Luella's death, Ferguson remarried Eva Sammons in 1929. Eva was the daughter of Jesse and Lula Sammons from the prominent Sammons family of Albemarle County.
Ferguson worked as a physician in Charlottesville and sent his son out of state for school due to the lack of quality Black schools in the city at that time.
On February 22, 1917, Ferguson, along with his son and daughter, was photographed in formal attire by Rufus W. Holsinger. This photograph later featured in the “Visions of Progress: Portraits of Dignity, Style and Racial Uplift” exhibit at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library from 2022 to 2023. The picture was also displayed at Mel's Cafe, which occupies the site of Holsinger's former studio.
Dr. Ferguson was the attending physician for Benjamin E. Tonsler when he passed away on March 6, 1917, at the University of Virginia Hospital.
From around 1909 to 1929, Ferguson lived at 307 West Main Street before moving to 206 Sixth Street NW, where he saw patients in a lower-level office. At that time, it was illegal for a White doctor to visit a Black patient’s home, so those in need had to call him and hope he was available. Ferguson was also active in the Republican Party in Charlottesville and at the national level until 1920, when the party removed its Black members from official representation as part of the "lily white" movement.
Ferguson died on December 7, 1932, in Charlottesville and was buried in the Sammons Family Cemetery in Albemarle County.
Marriage and family
Ferguson's first wife, Luella, was the daughter of Mary Louisa and John Mifflin Brown, an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) bishop. Although she never attended school, she was nonetheless able to read and write. She died in her hometown of Washington, D.C.
Ferguson's son, George R Ferguson Jr., operated a funeral home in Charlottesville and served as president of the local NAACP chapter, leading efforts to desegregate local schools and the University of Virginia Health System. His daughter, Olivia, was invited to the White House in 2013 and met with President Obama in appreciation for her help in desegregating Virginian schools.[1]
Ferguson's daughter, Louise, married and eventually became a librarian in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ferguson's second wife, Eva, was the daughter of Jesse and Lula Sammons of Albemarle County.[2]
References
- ↑ Web. Obama thanks Olivia Ferguson McQueen for her help desegregating Virginia schools, The Washington Post, 06/26/2013
- ↑ Web. Ferguson, Dr. George R., Jefferson's University, 02/14/2022