Dr. Charles Whittaker Pemberton
Charles Whittaker Pemberton was born November 5, 1891 in Marshall, Texas, the third son among eleven children. He graduated from Central High School in Marshall, where his parents, H.B. and Nora Hawley Pemberton, were Principal and Teacher. H.B. Pemberton Public School is named in honor of his father. He attended Wiley College at Marshall and received a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating from college, Pemberton served in the United States Army during World War I. He later received his M.D. degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and, after completing an internship at St. Louis City Hospital Number Two in 1924, he attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for postgraduate study in Public Health. In 1926, Pemberton moved to Houston where he established an office and practiced medicine for forty-five years.
Dr. Pemberton was the first black member of the Houston Independent School District’s Health Department and became assistant director of the department during his thirty-seven year tenure. At the same time, he maintained licenses to practice medicine in Texas, Kansas, and Tennessee. From 1943 to 1947, he was president of the Houston Colored Chamber of Commerce and in 1948, when the Houston Business and Professional Men’s Club was formally organized, he became program committee chairman. Dr. Pemberton was also a director of medical service for the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 872, vice president of the National Medical Association (an association for black physicians that began in 1895), president of the Lone Star Medical Association, a member of the governing council of the American School Health Association, and a delegate to two World Health assemblies.
In addition to his professional activities, up until the time of his death he served as Honorary Consul for the Republic of Liberia in Africa. In 1966, he attended the celebration of the 119th anniversary of the founding of Liberia in Monrovia. While he was there, William V. S. Tubman, the late President of Liberia, enrolled Dr. Pemberton as a Knight Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption. This honor is usually reserved for people who have given distinguished service to the Republic.
Dr. Pemberton was extremely dedicated to civic work and led a life devoted to serving his community on the local, state, national, and international levels. He founded the Houston chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and co-founded Sigma Pi Phi social fraternity. He was a member of the fraternal organization Crispus Attucks Lodge Number 317—Prince Hall Affiliation, and a member of Trinity United Methodist Church. He also held active membership in the Harris County Medical Society and the Houston Medical Forum. Dr. Pemberton married Doris Hollis, a black civic leader, reporter, and author February 11, 1945 and they raised four children together. He died in Houston on September 11, 1976.
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