Rachel Boone Keith (May 30, 1924 – January 4, 2007) was an American physician, born in Liberia.
Rachel Boone Keith | |
|---|---|
 Rachel Boone Keith, from a 1960 newspaper photograph | |
| Born | Rachel Hannah Celestine Boone May 30, 1924 Monrovia, Liberia |
| Died | January 4, 2007 Detroit, Michigan, USA |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Spouse | Damon Keith |
| Parent | Clinton Caldwell Boone |
Early life
editRachel Hannah Celestine Boone was born to American Baptist medical missionaries Clinton Caldwell Boone and Rachel Allen Tharps Boone, in Monrovia, Liberia.[1][2][3]
She was raised in Richmond, Virginia,[4] where she graduated from Armstrong High School in 1938; that year she moved to Rhode Island to live with an aunt, physician Bessie B. Tharps. She graduated from Houghton College in 1943, and earned a medical degree at Boston University School of Medicine in 1949. Boone completed further medical training at Harlem Hospital and at Coney Island Hospital. She moved to Detroit in 1951.[1]
Career
editBoone worked two years at Detroit Receiving Hospital, and joined the staff at Detroit Memorial Hospital in 1954, had a private internal medicine practice for many years,[5][6] and served on the Michigan Board of Medicine, and was active with the Detroit chapter of the NAACP and other organizations.[1][7] She was also a prominent member of Detroit's Tabernacle Baptist Church.[8] She and Judge Keith were guests at Detroit's Bal Africain, an art benefit event, in 1973, including dinner with the Tanzanian ambassador, Paul Bomani.[9]
Personal life and legacy
editIn 1953, Rachel Boone married a lawyer, Damon Keith, who became a noted federal judge.[10][11] They had three daughters: Cecile, Debbie, and Gilda. Rachel Boone Keith died in 2007, aged 83 years, in Detroit.[1][12] Congressman John Conyers gave a tribute to Keith in the Congressional Record soon after her death.[13] Later that year, she was honored posthumously with a LifeLine Award from the Wayne State University School of Nursing.[14]
Her papers are held, along with her husband's, in the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University.[15] There is a Rachel Boone Keith Prize Fund at the Boston University School of Medicine, to provide support for African-American women medical students at the school.[16][17]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Dr. Rachel Keith's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ Boone, Clinton Caldwell (1970). Liberia as I Know it. Negro Universities Press. ISBN 978-0-8371-3284-6.
- ^ "Rachel Allen (Tharps) Boone". East End Cemetery. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
- ^ Bailey, Ruby L. (2007-01-10). "Keith Conquered Barriers Quietly". Detroit Free Press. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Riley, Rochelle (2007-01-10). "Doctor, Role Model, History Maker". Detroit Free Press. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Many Thanks to Rachel Boone Keith". Detroit Free Press. 2007-01-05. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Detroit NAACP Raises Record $1 Million at Freedom Dinner". Jet: 14–15. May 23, 1988.
- ^ Keith, Rachel B. (1960-03-12). "What My Religion Means to Me". Detroit Free Press. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Gaskill, Myrtle (1973-10-29). "African Art Benefit". Detroit Free Press. p. 29. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Witsil, Frank. "Judge Damon Keith's education, best-known cases and clerks". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ McFadden, Robert D. (2019-04-28). "Damon Keith, Federal Judge Who Championed Civil Rights, Dies at 96 (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
- ^ Angel, Cecil; Spratling, Cassandra (2007-01-05). "Doctor Dies after a Fall at Precinct". Detroit Free Press. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Conyers, John Jr. (January 11, 2007). "A Very Fine Lady--Indeed--A Tribute to the Life of Dr. Rachel Hannah Celestine Boone Keith". Congressional Record Online. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ Griffith, Antionette D. (2007-09-23). "Health Care Notables to be Lauded". Detroit Free Press. p. 142. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Collection: Rachel Boone Keith Papers". ArchivesSpace@Wayne. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ Brand-Williams, Oralandar. "Funeral arrangements set for Judge Damon J. Keith". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ "Fund Set Up in Memory of Dr. Rachel Boone Keith". Detroit Free Press. 2007-01-06. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
