"Miles Vandahurst Lynk" June,3,1871-December 29,1957)

The son of former slaves.Miles daddy was killed when he was only six and he was

running the farm by the time he was eleven.His mama insisted that he attend school five months a year,and Miles supplemented his education by reading at home in what he later called "Pine Knot College.Miles began teaching in Fayetteville County when he he was seventeen,saving his money for further education.Miles graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1891.Miles became the first African American physician in Jackson and founded the first medical journal published by an African American,The Medical and Surgical Observer,published monthly from 1892-1894.He also published a literary magazine from 1898-1900.Miles was a co founder of the National Medical Association for African American Physicians in 1895.In 1900 Miles founded the University of West Tennessee,with departments of medicine,law,dentistry,pharmacy,and nursing.In 1907 the school moved to Memphis,was a member of the faculty.The Jane Terrell Hospital clinical training.When the school closed in 1924,it had issued 216 medical degrees.Miles was also a founder of the Bluff City Medical Society and an active member of Collins Chapel CME Church.He wrote several books and numerous articles.In 1893 he married Beebe Stephen,a Lane College graduate who taught chemistry and medical Latin.They were married for fifty-five years.After her death Ola Herin Moore.