Dr. Franklin Robey
Dr. Franklin Robey, c. 1880s. (Courtesy of Dr. John and Mrs. Stone)
Dr. Franklin Robey was born a slave. At the age of 12 he and his mother were sold on the auction block for $1200. With the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, the practice of slavery became illegal and all slaves would gain their freedom by January 1863.
Like many other newly freed slaves Dr. Robey sought education through the new schools that were created in the years after the war to provide education and opportunities to the black population. He first went to school at the Chicago Chirgucal College and then went on the Meharry Medical School earning his degree in 1883.
Dr. Robey married a French woman of African descent and moved to Houston to live and practice. He joined the ranks of a handful of men trying to improve the health of their underserved population in Houston. With no hospital in the city admitting blacks the African-American doctor had o make house calls to offer treatment. Dr. Robey practiced for many years in Houston till he died in 1904.
Next Biography: Dr. Louis R. Robey
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