83R14234 STE-D
By: Miles H.R. No. 800
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Dr. Edith Irby Jones has devoted her life to serving
others, and the achievements of this trailblazing physician, civil
rights advocate, and humanitarian are truly deserving of
recognition; and
WHEREAS, Born in 1927 to an Arkansas sharecropper and a
domestic worker, Dr. Jones was inspired to become a physician after
her older sister died during a typhoid epidemic in the 1930s; she
realized then that medical care was essential to the survival of
sick children and that poverty adversely affected the ability of
many families, including her own, to pay for lifesaving treatment;
and
WHEREAS, Dr. Jones's overwhelming desire to prevent similar
tragedies eventually led her to the University of Arkansas College
of Medicine, where she became the first African American woman to be
admitted; she later became the first African American woman
resident at Baylor College of Medicine and the first female elected
president of the National Medical Association; and
WHEREAS, After earning her degree in 1952, Dr. Jones
established a successful career in Arkansas; she also took up the
cause of civil rights and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and other leaders of the movement; as a member of the "Freedom
Four," she traveled the Deep South, speaking at homes and churches,
urging people to join the struggle for justice and equality; and
WHEREAS, In 1962, Dr. Jones set up a private practice in
Houston's Third Ward, a practice she maintained for six decades;
later in the 1960s, she joined other African American physicians in
founding Mercy Hospital, which served impoverished patients in the
southeast part of the city; during the course of her career,
Dr. Jones held privileges at a number of Houston hospitals, served
as chief of staff at Riverside General Hospital, and served as a
clinical assistant professor of medicine at Baylor College of
Medicine and at The University of Texas Health Science Center at
Houston; she has also established medical clinics in Haiti and
Mexico and consulted on health care in numerous other countries;
and
WHEREAS, Admired and respected by her peers, Dr. Jones has
received many prestigious accolades; the American Society of
Internal Medicine named her Internist of the Year in 1988, and in
2001, she was presented with the Oscar E. Edwards Memorial Award for
Volunteerism and Community Service by the ASIM and the American
College of Physicians; she has been inducted into the Hall of Fame
at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine, and she is the
recipient of honorary doctoral degrees from Missouri Valley
College, Mary Holmes College, Lindenwood University, and Knoxville
College; the City of Houston honored her in 1986 with Edith Irby
Jones Day, and the former Southeast Memorial Hospital named its
ambulatory center in her honor; a charter member of Physicians for
Human Rights, Dr. Jones was nominated as a Local Legend by U.S.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, in conjunction with a National
Library of Medicine program highlighting women who have made
enduring contributions to the medical profession; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Edith Jones is a skilled and compassionate
healer who demonstrated exemplary courage in breaking through
racial and gender barriers, and her unwavering commitment to
providing health care to those in need has had a positive impact on
the lives of countless individuals; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas
Legislature hereby commend Dr. Edith Irby Jones for her exceptional
contributions to medicine and the advancement of racial equality
and extend to her sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for Dr. Jones as an expression of high regard by the Texas
House of Representatives.