Editorial: Dr. Frank Boston A Key Figure in Local Black History

North Penn Now Staff•

Dr. Wanda Lewis-Campbell.

(The following submission is part of a monthly series of editorials, courtesy of our partnership with North Penn School District and the North Penn Board of School Directors.)

Dear Community,

Black History Month celebrates the accomplishment of African Americans in America. It began as Negro History Week created in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a noted Black historian, scholar, teacher, journalist and publisher. He selected the month of February because it coincided with Frederick Douglass’ and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays, but he actually wanted it to be a study of a great race – the black race!

Representation matters: In the 1940s, African American communities began increasing their efforts to expand the study of black history in schools. During the Civil Rights Movement in the South, certain schools added black history into the curriculum with the hope of advancing social change. Blacks in West Virginia, a state where Woodson often spoke, began to celebrate February as Negro History Month. Black Chicagoans started celebrating Negro History Month in the mid-1960s.

Then came a proposal by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. Their first celebration of Black History Month occurred in February 1970. It wasn’t until 1976 that President Gerald Ford officially recognized February as Black History Month to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Throughout the month, North Penn will be highlighting some amazing black Americans who have made or are continuing to make a big difference in our local community. Our students will learn about these individuals in school and we will be sharing their stories with the community as well.

Today, I invite you to learn about an unsung American hero, Dr. Frank Boston. Last week, students throughout the district were shown an informational video produced by George Whitehair and Dr. Frances Jeyaraj about Dr. Boston. I’d like to share details of his life and contributions to our community as well.

Dr. Frank Erdman Boston (1890-1960), is a WWI veteran who was one of the first African Americans to start both a hospital and ambulance corps almost 100 years ago, both of which are still in business here in Lansdale. The hospital is now part of Jefferson Health and is known as Abington – Lansdale Hospital. The ambulance corps is now known as the Volunteer Medical Services Corps on Lansdale.

The Boston family may be one of the first African American families to produce two medical doctors. Dr. Frank E. Boston’s brother, Dr. Samuel Clifford Boston, was also a doctor and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1898. They are also the first set of African American brothers and doctors to serve in the military. Dr. Frank Boston died in 1960, and a monument was built to honor him at Seventh and North Broad streets, as the hospital he created — now Elm Terrace Gardens — refused to allow his supporters to hang his portrait in the lobby.

I invite our students and their families to join me on March 13 at noon at Seventh and North Broad streets to take a picture with Dr. Frank E. Boston’s bust. After all, Black History is American History!

I’ll see you then!

Sincerely,