In the 1930’s and 40’s, Dr. William Marcellus Drake was
considered a “civic giant” in Houston, Texas. Decades after his death, even his
descendants knew little about his story. It turns out that Dr. Drake, who
talked little about himself, left plenty of clues about his journey from a
young farm hand in Mississippi to surgeon and fighter for racial justice in
Texas. Thanks to the digital age, we are finally learning his full story.
A century ago, a small item appeared on the front page of The Houston Informer, the city’s Black newspaper. It was a brief, three-paragraph announcement that officially introduced Dr. William Marcellus Drake to the city of Houston, Texas, with the headline: Eminent Physician Locates In Houston.
December 1923 was the beginning of a new chapter for Dr. Drake, a gifted and well-known surgeon, activist and philanthropist. His first wife, Bessie M Brantley Drake, died three years earlier in their hometown of San Antonio. Their only child Wilhelmina was a teenager. Dr. Drake was 53 years old and had already spent 30 years as an educator, physician and activist, expanding schools, building hospitals and fighting for racial justice.
Dr. Drake earned two medical degrees and was performing
major surgeries in an era when Black people were turned away from hospitals or
subjected to inferior care in the segregated basement wards of public
hospitals. Black women benefited from his specialty in removing fibroid tumors.
“The science of medicine and surgery has made wonderful
advancement in recent years,” he told the Informer in 1923. “Under the latest
scientific treatment at least 50 percent of the childless women can become
mothers,” he said.
Dr. Drake’s influence extended beyond medicine. In San Antonio, he was a founding member of the city’s N.A.A.C.P. chapter – one of the largest in America at the time. In Houston, he would make a name for himself by standing up against lynchings and filing lawsuits against racist all-White primary election laws that prevented Blacks from exercising their right to vote.
December 1923 The Houston Informer
Despite a busy medical practice in Houston, and a hectic
schedule of surgeries and civic commitments, Dr. Drake still had time for his family
and new wife, Inez Taylor Drake, a registered nurse from Buda, Texas. The
couple raised three children in Houston’s Third Ward, William Jr., who died at
age eight after contracting polio; George, who followed in his father’s
footsteps as a physician; and his youngest daughter, Evelyn Drake Houston,
family historian, now 88 and living in Kansas City.
Evelyn remembers riding the merry-go-round with her father.
At after-school recitals, she would look out into the audience and find her
Daddy had arrived on time – sitting next to her mother. “He was always
there,” she said.
Eventually, Dr. Drake’s remarkable record as a physician and
community leader would be celebrated with a Man of the Year award. “Easily one of the most unselfish citizens of
Houston without regard to color,” wrote the Houston Informer in 1939.
After a long and distinguished career, Dr. Drake died of a
heart attack at the age of 78 on August 21, 1948. His daughter Evelyn held onto
photographs and memories, but she says he did not talk about himself or his
upbringing. She only knew the names of his parents and the name of the town
where he was born – Egypt, Mississippi. Even the names of his siblings would
remain a mystery until many years later. For 50 years after his death, the
narrative of his work and sacrifices was scattered among various documents,
letters and biographical sketches. It would take a digital revolution to stitch
things back together.
In the late 1990’s, the internet and digital archival tools
emerged as a pathway to reconstruct Dr. Drake’s life. Correspondence, census
data, research papers and newspaper articles hidden from plain sight began
finding their way onto the internet. The growth of searchable databases are
providing clues to the lives of historical figures like Dr. Drake – answering
questions that Drake’s daughter was too young to ask.
Early
Influences
Chief
among those questions is this: How did the son of formerly enslaved people make
it from a farm in Egypt, Mississippi to the position as one of the most respected
civic leaders of his generation? The answer lies, in part, with his upbringing
according to a recently discovered newspaper profile.
Dr. Drake’s father, Rev. George Washington Drake, was a
“pioneer in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mississippi”, as reported by the
May 11, 1911, edition of the Southwestern Christian Advocate. Rev. G.W. Drake and his wife Sarah Jane
Barney raised five children from slavery through the Civil War and into the
Reconstruction era. Robert, 22; George Jr., 21; and Bettie, 16; were all listed
in the 1880 census as schoolteachers. Dr. Drake – the youngest, is listed as
10-year-old “Willie”- and his sister Alice, 14, were farmhands. It is no
surprise that church and education would play a critical role in his life. In fact,
Dr. Drake would attend three schools that were all supported by the Methodist
Episcopal Church: Rust College in
Holly Springs, Mississippi; Wiley College
located in Marshall, Texas; and Nashville’s Meharry
Medical College.
A Gifted Communicator
In 1911, Dr. Drake stood in front of 3,000 White and Black people in San Antonio. It was the first day of famed educator Booker T. Washington’s whistlestop tour across Texas aimed at improving race relations. Dr. Drake was selected to introduce Washington, declaring “Few Americans made such an impression upon public opinion, removed so many prejudices and awakened greater helpfulness in relation to the solution of a problem.” The audience was moved. Washington rose from his seat to a thunderous applause. Dr. Drake’s words were published in newspapers across the country.
This was just one example of Dr. Drake’s persuasive and
oratorical talent. Throughout his career, he would be called on to deliver
speeches and serve as master of ceremonies. Keep in mind, he was the son of a
minister and was comfortable in front of an audience. As for his connection to
Booker T. Washington, recent research has uncovered his service as a delegate
to the National Negro Business League Convention in 1901, an organization
founded by Washington.
A Leader
in Medicine
In the 1920’s Dr. Drake was one of the most vocal physicians
at the newly constructed Houston Negro Hospital (later known as Riverside
General). His correspondence archived at the University of Houston reveals a
man determined to see the hospital succeed, even if that meant going against
the wishes of his friends who wanted to boycott the hospital amid an on-going
dispute over leadership.
It turns out that Dr. Drake was intimately knowledgeable
about hospital operations 20 years prior to that hospital fight. A newly
discovered profile published in 1908 of the Southwestern Christian Advocate
notes Dr. Drake poured his own earnings into a renovation project, adding a
second floor to a frame house to establish the 10-bed Wiley University
Hospital. Dr. Drake was named chief surgeon.
A Prolific Fundraiser
Some of Dr. Drake’s most impactful work was his civic
activism. His persuasive talents and integrity made him a frequent choice to
head fundraising efforts to support churches, hospitals and the fight for
racial justice including the case against Bob White, a Black man facing a bogus
rape charge. When the Supreme Court failed to uphold his conviction based on
lack of evidence, White was murdered – shot to death- inside the courtroom
during a third re-trial. Dr. Drake was a fundraiser for the Bob White legal
defense.
Additional research has uncovered a pattern of Dr. Drake’s
courage to stand up against lynchings. He was a founding member of the San
Antonio N.A.A.C.P chapter in 1918 and he was among a contingency of Black
community leaders who encouraged editors of the White San Antonio newspaper to
take a stronger stance as the wave of violence made headlines across the
country.
A
Defining Legacy
Dr. W.M. Drake attending 1947 National Medical Association Conference, Los Angeles, CA
It’s
impossible to know if anyone could have predicted the impact of Dr. Drake’s
arrival in Houston in 1923. Clearly, his reputation preceded him, but his
forward-thinking philosophy left little room for self-reflection. While Dr.
Drake may not have been thinking about his own legacy, his contemporaries
understood his “permanent place in the hall of civic giants.” In 1944, Dr.
Drake was awarded Man of the Year by the Houston Negro Chamber of Commerce. The
recognition included this summary of his commitment to improve life for Black
people in America:
“Dr.
Drake’s leadership in the community has been safe, sound and conservative. His
work in the church in the Houston Negro Chamber of Commerce, Y.M.C.A and
N.A.A.C.P is very commendable. He has built his work and his career upon a rock
– not sand – and his record will stand the mighty roars and sweeps of the
gales.”
Carlton Houston is a former journalist, family historian and grandson of Dr. Drake.
During the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony, the female American flag bearer will be Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old tennis star. She will be the youngest flag bearer in American Olympic history. Basketball legend LeBron James has been selected as the male flag bearer.
Gauff said, “I was not expecting that.”
Delighted to be selected, Gauff admitted she has “no idea” what her assignment includes, adding, “I don’t know if there’s flag bearer-training I have to go to.”
James has been to the Olympics four times. He was part of U.S. teams that won bronze in 2004, gold at Beijing in 2008 and gold again in London in 2012.
But this will be his first time as the flag bearer.
He said, “It’s an absolute honor. I hope I continue to make my community proud and continue to make my family proud.”
It’s been 21 years since Cleashandria Hall disappeared from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Her mother Laurell Hall says she dropped her 18-year-old daughter off at her after-school job and never saw her again. For years, Hall and her family have kept their loved ones name in the media by hosting vigils and events that remind the public of their steadfast hope for answers.
But the attention is unusual. More often than not, experts say Black people who go missing do not receive the coverage as whites.
In October 2023, the state of California passed legislation that alerts the public to the disappearance of young people. It’s called the Ebony Alert, and it hopes to change the narrative about Black youth who are missing but don’t receive the same media coverage as white youth.
“We feel it’s well beyond time that we dedicate something specifically to help bring these young women and girls back home because they’re missed and loved just as much as their counterparts are,” State Senator Steven Bradford said in an interview with NBC News.
The recent docuseries about a California woman who faked her disappearance garnered 3.6 million viewers on Hulu, making it the most popular docuseries ever on the streaming service– a distinction that adds more credibility to the ongoing conversation about the disparities in media coverage and public attention when Black Americans are missing.
Sherri Papini grabbed the spotlight in 2016 as authorities searched for her before she reappeared and years later admitted the hoax. The popularity of the docuseries has reignited the dismay Black families experience when their loved ones are missing.
According to the Black and Missing Foundation, Black Americans make up 40% of missing Americans but only 13% of the population.
Foundation Founder Natalie Wilson said, “There’s a need for an Ebony Alert because people of color are disappearing at an alarming rate, and typically their cases are under the radar when it comes to media coverage and getting law enforcement resources.”
The Ebony Alert is activated when local authorities request it because a Black youth is missing, and there is concern the youth has been targeted for trafficking, or foul play is suspected. The Ebony Alert uses electronic highway signs and encouraged radio, TV, and social media and other systems to spread information about the missing persons’ alert.
In 2022, California began the Feather Alert which publicizes the disappearance of Indigenous people.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg led the investigation that resulted in the first felony conviction of a former United States President, Donald Trump. Bragg’s case centered on the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, a porn actor who said she and Trump had sex in 2006. The trial involved charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up the payment to Daniels.
“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes to the courtroom doors,” Bragg said during a press conference after the jury’s verdict was announced. “By following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor.”
Trump and his Republican supporters have accused Bragg of “weaponizing” the judicial system.
“This was a disgrace,” Trump said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt as a rigged trial, a disgrace. The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people. And they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here.”
Who is Alvin Bragg
In 2021, Bragg became the first African American elected as the District Attorney for New York County covering Manhattan. He graduated from Harvard Law School and has served as an Assistant Attorney General at the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bragg is a former member of the Board of Directors of the New York Urban League and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a Sunday School teacher at his church.
Political Science professor, Sekou Franklin, said, “Bragg took a big risk bringing the case against former President Donald Trump. Undoubtedly, this risk is both personal and political. Despite this challenge, his willingness to prosecute Trump took great courage.”
Trump’s litany of indictments started when he left office in 2020 after losing the White House to President Joe Biden. Charges of Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 election continue to generate investigations and outrage. African American prosecutors have led three of the most significant cases.
In Georgia, Trump was indicted, along with 18 of his allies, for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought the charges; however, the case became overshadowed by controversy when Willis was accused of hiring Nathan Wade as the special prosecutor because she was in a romantic relationship with him. Judge Scott McAfee declined to disqualify Willis, a decision Trump and his team are challenging.
Earlier this year New York State Attorney General Letitia James handed Trump a defeat after a New York judge ordered him and his business trust to pay $453.5 million in penalties and interest as part of his civil fraud case. The judge ruled that Trump fraudulently inflated the value of his real estate holdings when applying for loans.
But the latest convictions on 34 felony counts against the former President known for his boundary-breaking is historic.
“Alvin Bragg represents the new wave of prosecutors who have strong ties to public impact and community lawyering,” said Franklin, a professor at Middle Tennessee State. “Many of these prosecutors were elected as a result of protests that targeted racialized violence by law enforcement.”
Trump has described James, Willis and Bragg as “racists” – a thinly veiled attempt to tap into a vein of ingrained racism in the nation. The Republican Party lamented the convictions, decrying the trial as a political attack and a “shameful” day in American history.
Democrats view the convictions as an opportunity to sharpen their arguments that Trump is unfit to lead the nation domestically or represent America globally.
Trump faces up to four years in prison. His sentencing is set for July 11 – days before the start of the Republican National Convention.