Black Health and Wellness: Dr. Atwell Theodore Braxton

The theme of this year’s Black History Month is Black Health and Wellness, exploring the legacy of medical practitioners, scholars and more. To celebrate the 2022 Black History Month, we will feature some of the medical professionals who practiced in Maury County.

 Dr. John C. Halfacre was, perhaps, one of the first formally trained physicians in Maury County. He attended Central Tennessee College, graduating in 1878. In addition to practicing medicine, Halfacre was the first African American to serve on Columbia’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen, now the Columbia City Council, representing the third ward. He was married to Italy Pillow, a nurse. He died in 1896 and is buried in the Rose Mount Cemetery.

 Dr. Atwell Theodore Braxton 

Dr. Atwell Theodore Braxton, the son of slave parents, moved to Columbia in 1896, at age 25. He was educated at the Tuskegee Normal Industrial Institute in Alabama. He received medical training from Leward Medical College, Raleigh, NC; Medical Hospital and City Hospital, Brooklyn NY; the Physicians and Surgeons College, Boston MA; and Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN. 

Establishing a medical practice in the early years was very difficult because of his youth and racial identity. Dr. Braxton climbed over the obstacles and pushed aside impediments; he had no horse, so he made his professional calls and visits on foot; with determination and hard work, his patients increased, which enabled him to open an office. Soon he had more patients than he could handle and earned a reputation as a competent physician. White physicians occasionally called on him for assistance when performing difficult and delicate operations. Dr. Braxton served as a member of the City Board of Health and was president of the Colored State Medical Association. 

In 1901, Braxton started The Index, an African American quarterly newspaper, where he was the editor and business manager. In 1904, he was elected to the National Medical Register of the Templars, and by 1906, owned a valuable home on East Seventh Street, moved into an office and opened a drug store at 39 South Main Street. Dr. Braxton died in 1907, at age36, from lung decease.

Author: Jo Ann McClellan, Maury County Historian and African American Heritage Society, President