88.5 WFDD Web Archives
WFDD Archive
Main WFDD Website News Archives Triad Arts Archives Real People Archives Sports Commentary Archives Business Report Archives  

You are visiting the WFDD web archives.

Click here to return to our main website with the latest news from WFDD and NPR.

Search the WFDD archives
Listen (mp3) Listen  

Breaking Barriers

November 30, 2012 |

Wake Forest University is hosting a year-long celebration called, Faces of Courage, recognizing 50 years of Integration. It opened its doors to minorities in 1962. Yesterday, it honored the school's first Native American Indian graduate and also broke barriers at the Wake Forest Bowman Gray School of Medicine.

As a child growing up in Pembroke, N.C., James Jones dreamed of becoming a medical missionary. So in 1955, he applied to Wake Forest Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He had strong grades and glowing recommendations from his Wake Forest College professors, but he was a Lumbee Indian challenging the traditional white establishment.

He says while his first interview went well, he never heard back from the medical school. After some persistence, Jones was invited for a second interview, something no other applicant had to go through. 

Dr. Jones was finally accepted into the Bowman Gray School of Medicine and graduated in 1959. He ultimately became a family medicine physician. He also opened a private practice in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Dr. Jones was also influential in getting North Carolina medical schools to establish family medicine programs and recognize it as a specialty. He retired in January 2012. 


<< earlier stories later stories >>
<< April 2010 >>
Su M T W Th F Sa
    123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930 

Show month: