Louis T. Wright

Louis Tompkins Wright
Louis T. Wright (sculpture by William E. Artis)
Born	July 23, 1891 LaGrange, Georgia
Died	October 8, 1952 (aged 61) New York City, New York
Nationality	United States
Fields	Medicine
Institutions	Harlem Hospital, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Alma mater	Harvard Medical School; Clark Atlanta University
Known for	first African-American surgeon at Harlem Hospital; chairman of the NAACP
Notable awards	Spingarn Medal; Purple Heart

Louis Tompkins Wright (July 23, 1891 – October 8, 1952) was an American surgeon and civil rights activist. In his position at Harlem Hospital he was the first African-American on the surgical staff of a non-segregated hospital in New York City. He was influential for his medical research as well as his efforts pushing for racial equality in medicine and involvement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which he served as chairman for nearly two decades.

Wright was born in LaGrange, Georgia. His father, Ceah Ketchan Wright, was born a slave but obtained formal education, finishing medical school as valedictorian but later giving up his medical practice to be a Methodist minister. Ceah died shortly after Louis's birth and his mother, a sewing teacher named Lula Tompkins, remarried in 1899. Also a physician, Louis's step-father, William Fletcher Penn, was the first African-American to graduate from Yale School of Medicine. Penn, who became a prominent doctor in Atlanta and was the first African-American to own an automobile in the city, had a strong influence on Louis both as a physician and through the racial hardships Louis watched him endure.

Wright graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 1911 and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1915, finishing fourth in his class. He completed his postgraduate work at Howard University-affiliated Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, DC before returning to Georgia.