Kia Johnson: Reflection for Black History Month

A couple of years ago, I began having a growing interest in researching my lineage. As African-Americans we are often limited in knowing our historical familial story and often accept the basic understanding that we are the decedents of slaves who - for a large portion of our ancestors -  gained some sense of autonomy post-slavery through sharecropping, serving in the military, generations migrating into education and higher learning while fighting for equal civil rights along the way. As I began this journey of digging into my family history with no expectations of what I would find, I was blown away by the Black history within my own family.

I discovered that my paternal great grandfather, Dr. Lilton Daniel Blaney, was a surgeon attending Howard University for his undergraduate study and then graduated from the Leonard Medical School (affiliated with Shaw University) in 1911. He completed his residency at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, DC (now known as the Howard University Hospital). A book published in 1921 (History of the American Negro: Virginia Edition) includes a biography of my great-grandfather describing him as:

A successful physician and surgeon of Richmond [and] has , in less than four years, made for himself a prominent place in the professional life of the capital city of Virginia. This is due to the character of his work and to the fact that he took the necessary time to prepare himself before beginning practice.