"Dr.John Edward Perry"{April 2,1870-1962)

Both of his parents had been slaves.Dr.Perry graduated from Bishop College in Marshall,Texas in 1891and later in 1931,his Alma mater conferred an

Honorary Degree upon him.He received his M.D. degree in 1895 from Meharry College in Nashville,Tennessee.Dr.Perry spent the following two years as a general practitioner in Mexico,Missouri and Columbia,Missouri.Despite negative racial attitudes of instructors and students,he enrolled in the Postgraduate Medical School in Chicago,which he attended from 1897  until 1898. Dr.Perry spent the neat nearly 50 years practing general medicine in Columbia & Kansas
City, Missouri.Although Dr. J.E. Perry spent the bulk of his career as a physician in Missouri,he played an important in the Houston African American medical community through his dedicated service as the executive
director of the Houston Negro Hospital in the late 1940s.
Dr.Perry,called "Dr.J.E." by his colleagues,was the moving force behind the African American hospital moment in the central Midwest,United States,especially in Kansas City and St.Louis,Missouri.Dr.Perry's main concern was provision of adequate hospitals,both for African American patients and for training of African American physicians.It was his experience in Chicago of being ignored because he was an African American in a white institution that gave Dr.Perry the conviction that African American hospitals were necessary both for service and professional development.He wrote,"If we as a race ever posses a large number of professional men of a high degree of efficiency.They will have to be developed in Negro Hospitals.I am leaving here [Chicago] to build a hospital and dedicate my life to the service of young men,so that they may not meet the embrassments and handicps as it has been mine to experience.Dr.Perry took his hardship and turned it into and incredible contribution to the African American community in Kansas City and eventually,Houston.On November 1,1910 he founded the Perry Sanitarium in an old house in Kansas City.The Sanitarium was renamed Wheatley-Provident Hospital in 1915 and Dr.Perry served as its superintendent for twenty years,from from 1910-1930,when he was honored with the title of superintendent-emeritus of this institution."The health of my people still weighted heavy on my heart,"Dr.Perry said about his reasons for creating Wheatley-Provident.After providing that the health of the of the entire African American community in Kansas City was seriously affected by the lack of groundwork for a municipal hospital exclusively for African Americans.From 1911-1929,Dr.Perry guided the process of developing an all African American staff to take over the hospital in its entirely;the African American staff  received direction until they were determined competent to replace the instructors.For 31 years,1910-1941,he was also chief of surgical service at Kansas City's General Hospital No.2,another African American hospital in the city.After 50 years of outstanding work in the field of medicine in Kansas City,pioneering for the health needs of the African America population there,Dr.Perry,at the age of 76,of retirement to take charge of the Houston Negro Hospital in March in 1947.Although he served in this position for only a few years,the hospital made great progress during his tenure.Addressing his goals as the hospital's executive,he commented,"There is so much to be done in a city that will have such a great medical center as Houston plans.Here at the Houston Negro Hospital our beginning is humble,but through hard work will bear fruit for our race.Dr.Perry's dedicated efforts,the hospital became accredited an affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine.
In February 1952,the Houston Negro Chamber of Commerce honored Dr.Perry with a life membership as a tribute for his hard work and perseverance at the Houston Negro Hospital.He held several leadership positions throughout his life and career,including 24th president of the National Medical Association in 1923,and board member of Lincoln University in Missouri (1921-1941) and Meharry Medical College (1936-1956).He receive the first "Distinguished Service Award" for meritorious achievement" from the National Medical Association in 1941,and in 1947 he published his autobiography,Forty Cords of Wood:Memoirs of a medical
Doctor.He was also instrumental in developing the Kansas City Y.M.C.A. Dr.Perry was widowed in 1943 and remarried four years later;with his first wife,he had one child,Dr.Eugene B.Perry,who became a surgeon and practiced in Houston.Dr.Eugene B.Perry,who became a surgeon and practiced in Houston.Dr.John Perry lived a long life of untiring service to the African American community,constantly,working to provide adequate health care to as many people as possible.He died in Houston.