Dr. James F. Sistrunk and Provident Hospital Collection, Circa 1943-present
Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- 1 Half Hollinger Box
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
Dr. James F. Sistrunk and Provident Hospital Collection, AARLCC Special Collections, Broward County Library.
Background
- Scope and content:
The Dr. James F. Sistrunk and Provident Hospital Collection is an artificial collection of research materials related to Dr. James Franklin Sistrunk (1891-1966) and Provident Hospital (1938-1964). It includes photocopies of documents, books, newspaper articles and clippings, and photocopies of Provident Hospital Annual reports.
- Biographical / historical:
Dr. James Franklin Sistrunk (1891-1966) co-founded Provident Hospital in 1938 with Dr. Von D. Mizell and dentist Dr. James Lynwood Bass. All three graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
James Sistrunk was born in 1891 in Midway, Florida and his parents were Henry and Mamie Sistrunk. After growing up in Ocala, Sistrunk graduated with honors from Meharry in 1919, and then began practicing medicine in Dunnellon, Florida. Dr. Sistrunk moved to Fort Lauderdale in April 1921 after the county's first Black doctor, Dr. Henry H. Green, moved to Miami in 1920. He had known Dr. Alfred J. Beck, a pharmacist, in Ocala. Dr. Beck moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1915 and opened one of the first pharmacies. In 1916 he married his wife Annie. After Dr. Green moved to Miami, the Becks sent for Dr. Sistrunk, sending him the train fare to Fort Lauderdale and helping him establish his practice in Broward County.
Being excluded from the area's segregated hospitals, Dr. Sistrunk focused on obstetrics and diagnostics and visited his patients during house calls. He recommended patients with serious cases to get treatment at Black hospitals in other cities. In 1935 he started treating patients with serious cases in the Fort Lauderdale Sanitarium, opened by Elizabeth Jennings (1879-1962) in a house on Northwest Fifth Avenue. After the opening of Provident Hospital, Dr. Sistrunk widened his practice of medicine by also acting as Dr. Mizell's surgical assistant. Dr. Sistrunk remained working until March 1966 when he died of cancer.
James Sistrunk married Daisy Belle Womack (1905-1984) in 1930, and they raised two children, Juanita Sistrunk Moorhead and Oliver Sistrunk. Daisy Belle Sistrunk moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1922 from Waldo, Florida with her mother, and shortly afterwards began working for Dr. Sistrunk. The Sistrunks were dedicated members of the Mount Hermon AME Church, and Dr. Sistrunk was also a member of the Elks and the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.
In 1971 Northwest Sixth Street was renamed Dr. James F. Sistrunk Boulevard in honor of Sistrunk's contributions to the community.
- Processing information:
This collection received container level processing. This finding aid may be updated to reflect new descriptions as well as acquisitions to the collection.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
- Preferred citation:
Dr. James F. Sistrunk and Provident Hospital Collection, AARLCC Special Collections, Broward County Library.
- Location of this collection:
-
African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Broward County Library2650 Sistrunk BoulevardFort LauderdaleFL33311USA
