"Sarah Garland Jones"(18?-1905)

Sarah the first African American woman to receive a medical certificate from the state of Virginia,was born soon after the close of the Civil War in Albemarle County,Virginia.Her parents were George W.Garland and Ellen (Boyd) Garland. Her father was the "leading African American contractor and builder of Richmond, Virginia."Sarah attended the public school system in Richmond and graduated in 1883 from Richmond Normal School. Sarah taught for five years and was regarded as one of the brightest "colored women"of the city.During her teaching years she married Miles Berkley Jones, a physician.Sarah attended Howard Medical School in Washington,D.C.,from 1890-1893,when she received her medical degree.Upon returning to Richmond,Sarah was one of eighty-five candidates to take the state medical examination board in Virginia.Twenty-five of the white participants failed the examination.She received over 90 percent on the surgery portion of the examination.Passing the Virginia State Medical Examination Board gave her the distinction of becoming the first African American woman to receive a medical certificate from the Virginia board.Sarah and her husband set up a practice in Richmond,where he would treat the men and she would treat the women.They maintained a lucrative practice for many years.Like several of their African American colleagues,the Joneses founded a patient care facility in 1898.The hospital had about twenty-five beds and was mainly available for female patients.The hospital was called The Women's Central Hospital and Richmond Hospital.Incorporated in 1912,the hospital changed its name to Sarah G.Jones Memorial Hospital.In 1901, the Joneses began a training school for nurses affiliated with the hospital.The first nursing class class graduated in 1901,and the school remained open until 1920.At the time of her death in 1905,Sarah was the only African American woman practing medicine in the state of Virginia.