by Paul R. Spitzzeri
After a brief period in Los Angeles from late 1888 to sometime in the first two months of 1890 when he was not only the first Black doctor in the city, but the state and anywhere west of Denver, for that matter, Monroe A. Majors returned to his hometown of Waco, Texas, with his wife, Georgia, and their daughter Grace was born there in March. He not only opened an office, but continued to demonstrate a keen interest in community involvement on multiple fronts.
At the end of 1890, for example, he was part of a committee with two other men to represent African-Americans at an early gathering in Houston as planning was underway for the representation of Texas at the World’s Fair in Chicago, which was a major way for an burgeoning America to demonstrate its economic and cultural growth. The Waco News-Tribune made a point of remarking that Majors and the others “are colored men of high ability and well up in the approved advancement of the race,” while it hoped “they will receive . . . that respect their importance fully justifies.”
In August 1891, Majors was among a committee of ten sent to Houston for a statewide Black Texan convention, with one of the issues discussed as these men were selected concerning separate transportation for African-Americans, an important matter as part of the so-called “separate but equal” concept that was codified by the notorious Plessy v. Ferguson decision of the United States Supreme Court five years later.
Notably, Majors was part of the establishment of a Democratic club in Waco in May 1892, though he later, in the North, was a Republican, so this may have been a reflection of the political realities of Texas. Later in the month, the News-Tribune wrote that “it will possibly be news to many that there are enough colored physicians in the state to maintain a state organization,” but the Lone Star Medical Association gathered for a three-day convention at the city hall, with Majors presenting a paper on improving medical treatment.
An early example of Majors receiving some widespread attention came in summer 1893 when he published Noted Negro Women: Their Triumphs and Activities published by the Chicago firm of Donohue and Henneberry. This look at the accomplishments of African-American women in the age of the “New Negro” conception was a significant contribution to Black literature and was written, it has been stated, during his period of living and working in Los Angeles .
A year later, Majors, “speaking for a large number of the negro population,” petitioned the Waco City Council “for a ward for negroes at the city hospital, or to provide some means for taking care of sick negroes and training and developing trained nurses among that race of people.” While there was discussion about taking the proposal up with the county commissioners, one council member opined that the “gloomy outlook” financially was a problem—the United States went through one of its worst economic depressions in its history during that era.
There are reports that among other activities Majors undertook in Waco was the opening of the first Black-owned drugstore in the American Southwest, teaching at Paul Quinn College (an HBCU campus) in Dallas and edited a Black-owned paper called the Texas Searchlight. Another move, however, took place in late spring 1896 as the Decatur Review of 4 June in the city east of Illinois’ capital city of Springfield informed its readers,
Dr. M.A. Majors arrived in Decatur last night from Waco, Tex., and will bring his family here as soon as he can find a suitable house. Dr. Majors is a colored physician and will enjoy the distinction of being the only one of his race in Decatur. He has been in correspondence for some time with prominent colored citizens of Decatur and brings the best of recommendations.
He was a member of the city’s Antioch Baptist Church where he sometimes gave presentations, including one not long after he settled in town on “How Can We Best Elevate the Young People?” In mid-October, he traveled to Nashville to take part in a two-day conference held by the American Medical Association of Colored Physicians and gave a talk on “Malignant Malarial Fever.”
A biographical sketch in the African American Registry states that Majors received death threats while in Decatur because of his writings on lynching and that he fled to Indianapolis, where he was associate editor for that city’s Black newspaper, the Freeman. In a letter to the Waco Times-Herald of 2 February 1899, addressed to the city’s mayor and written from the Indiana capital, Majors wrote that he was returning to his hometown in a few weeks.
He stated that “doubtless my sojourn in the North has benefitted me in many ways” and, after three years in Illinois and Indiana and “having a fair chance to study conditions of my race,” he remarked that “as a race we are quick to condemn the Southern white man’s faults; but far too slow to praise his good qualities.” These included employing African-Americans, including those “who must be servants”; sells real property with “ample time in which to pay”; allows credit at stores; founds schools with Black teachers; helps build churches and, through taxes, subsidizes African-American schools; “our negro doctors and dentists occasionally attend white patients: and “when a worthy negro gets into trouble, he often lends a helping hand.”
Majors continued that “God . . . expects all negroes to so live as to be known and respected by all men” and that “the South is the negro’s home and the southern white man is his brother; they must rise and fall together.” The Civil War ended nearly 35 years before and “its issues are dead” and he insisted the Black Southerners “should be willing to join with [white people], shoulder to shoulder, in endeavoring to make this Southland the most prosperous and most Christ-like portion of the globe.”
He called upon the discarding of prejudice and asserted that African-Americans were not “seeking social equality nor undeserved favors.” Rather, if whites understood that the progress of Black people was in their best interest and growth, they “will become the negro’s best friend” and “not until then, will the negro problem be solved.” More notable was Majors’ remark:
Better for us to have waded through slavery and kukluxism [the Ku Klux Klan], and even lynch courts to Christian civilization, than to have remained in peaceful barbarism.
Describing Northern whites as “cold” and “half-hearted,” Majors concluded that “the stalwart honest sincerity of the southern friend counterbalances every supposedly redeeming northern trait” while he added that “the fact stands out eloquently that those negroes who leave the North and go South always make southern citizens, often the best.” Therefore, “I have concluded to return home to Waco, where I was born, the city of my home and where my earthly possessions are.”
Majors contributed a lengthy essay to the Waco newspaper on “The Negro in Politics” and he offered the view that much of what was said on this topic was “by persons who are so dangerously ignorant on matters of any kind representing my race,” either using African-Americans as subjects for humor or seeing “nothing in the negro but a quasi-slave or dependent underling.”
Moreover, he contended that Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass were not the benchmarks for “the race standard” and added “these are great characters whose renown lies far from the masses of the race and whose positions are difficult to approach.” Majors opined that “the negro is in greater need of mercy possibly than curses and persecution” but that there was much achievement among the race. Washington was lionized for his work on African-American rights, including his forcible efforts to defeat a Georgia vote disenfranchisement bill.
While he acknowledged that some Black men did not deserve to vote because of a lack of understanding what comprised citizenship, this was true of many white men, as well. He wrote that there were some people who denigrated the country because in most of it prejudice and cruelty was too often inflicted upon African-Americans, but he sought to emphasize progress for Black people, as well.
Majors cited statistics concerning the number of Black soldiers in the armed forces; federal government employment of African-Americans; and the number of Black consuls. He remarked,
This, I take it is a splendid showing for the race which a half a century ago was in chains and which 30 years ago walked out of the house of bondage and stood for the first time in the pathway of political and constitutional liberty and equality.
It, despite the obstacles before them, African-Americans could achieve such levels of progress, there was much hope for the future. He also addressed accusations that Black persons were “selling out” when it came to political patronage, but asserted “it was not his making.” Majors remarked that “money does some very strange things” and “it can not be said that the negro did the tempting and rephrased the famous statement in the Book of Genesis: “My white brother gave me the apple and I did eat.” Finally, he posited that “nor can this vain rejoinder find compass in its wide sweep of the race.”
In the 28 April edition of the Times-Herald, Majors claimed not be represent Black people in offering “a feeble opinion” on lynchings that took place recently in Georgia and other places and, as Black men hung by white mobs were often accused of raping white women, thereby justifying these extralegal executions, the physician claimed that “the crime of rape should be punishable by a legal hanging,” when proven.
He went on to aver that “the fair-minded and thoughtful negro recoils as much from the brutal and inhuman deed as the fairest white man, but he wants to see the white man, North and South, enforce the laws that the white man makes.” He argued that education was the best way for African-Americans to advance and be far less apt to commit crimes, such as rape, as he added “I truly believe that its civilizing and Christianizing influences will eventually stamp out the rape fiend.”
Majors cautioned that “the negro is not an alarmist” and he sedulously sought to avoid any hint of anything that could viewed as indicating “any racial antagonism between the sections.” He felt race relations were improving through education, religion and in other societal aspects, while “in matters local they foster a kind spirit naturally for the public welfare.” He asserted that “the spirit of lynching is gradually declining in our beloved commonwealth” and that “Texas ranks among our best American civilization,” as effort continued with regard to “the civilizing influences of Christian education to stamp out the rape fiend.”
In mid-February 1900, Majors attended a community meeting of some 150 Republicans, of which about ten were white, and, while there was some disagreement about leadership, the gathering elected five men, including the doctor (see above about his Democratic affinity not long before), to organize a political club for the upcoming election, including for president. This done, delegates were elected for the county convention, among these being Majors.
When the federal census was conducted in June, Majors was listed as the superintendent of the city’s African-American hospital, while Georgia was employed as a school teacher and their daughter was likely attending the same institution. Also in the household was a female cook, three male patients, a nephew and a teenage girl was boarded with the family.
As the new century started, however, the Times-Herald, in its 15 February 1901 edition, reported that the Waco hospital board reported to the City Council about Majors’ petition for payment for his services at the Black hospital with the board members expressing concern that he was charging $1.85 per patient, while “the white hospital has cost us $1.20 per capita per day.” It also remarked that “the mayor has granted all the assistance to the colored hospital that he has to the white whenever there was [were] any patients in the negro hospital.” More damning was its claim that,
We find that the work done by Dr. Majors was largely a matter of his convenience, and much of it will have to be torn down and rearranged to suit the convenience of the present occupant, and we do not think it advisable to pay for these charges under each occupant.
This seems to indicate that Majors had alterations done to the building, in which he resided, and the board considered these unnecessary and liable to removal so that his successor—it is not known when his tenure at the African-American hospital ended—could occupy it and reside as desired.
The last reference to Majors as residing in Waco came when the Times-Herald of 16 June discussed preparations by Black citizens for the Juneteenth celebration and Majors was on the program to give a speech. The Waco History website states that more death threats against Majors led him to take his family and leave town, heading back north, which is remarkable considering what he’d written just before returning to his hometown.
The Decatur Herald and Review of 8 September reported on an accident in which a Black teen accidentally shot himself while returning from a hunting excursion and noted that Majors was part of the coroner’s jury reviewing the tragedy. His second period of residence in the Illinois city was, however, brief and, by April 1903, Majors and his family relocated to Chicago, which was to be his home for the next three decades.
We’ll return with part three soon, so join us for that!