 courtesy photo from Donna Hunt of Dr. Claude Organ Herald Democrat February 12, 2014 by Donna Hunt Dr. Claude Organ grew up in Denison and attended Anderson Elementary School and Terrell High School. His mother was a teacher and his father worked for the Postal Service, after serving in World War II, then finishing school at Lincoln University in Missouri. After high school graduation, he first went to Xavier College in New Orleans, graduating cum laude in 1948. Then he was named chairman of the board of the school for six years. He was turned down at Harvard University in Washington, D.C. and at Meharry Medical College in Nashville because he was Black so he began medical school at the age of 20 at Creighton in Omaha, NE. There he became the first Black to attend the school, where he was treated the same as all other students and found no patient refusal. Later he went back to Harvard University where he had been rejected as a young student, but this time to give a speech as president of the American College of Surgeons. His honors were many; he lectured often and authored more than 250 scientific articles and book chapters; primarily on general and endocrine surgery. He authored or co-authored five books and lectured worldwide for many years and was editor of the "Archives of Surgery," that was distributed in 85 countries to 33,000 surgeons. He was dedicated to opening doors for other minorities and women surgeons. Dr. Organ died in 2005 in Berkley, CA. African American Biography Index Doctors Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |