Rachel Boone Keith

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
DiedJanuary 4, 2007
Detroit, Michigan, USA
OccupationPhysician
Spouse(s)Damon Keith
Parent(s)Clinton Caldwell Boone

Early life

Rachel 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

Boone 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

In 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
  1. "Dr. Rachel Keith's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  2. Boone, Clinton Caldwell (1970). Liberia as I Know it. Negro Universities Press. ISBN 978-0-8371-3284-6.
  3. "Rachel Allen (Tharps) Boone". East End Cemetery. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  4. Bailey, Ruby L. (2007-01-10). "Keith Conquered Barriers Quietly". Detroit Free Press. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Riley, Rochelle (2007-01-10). "Doctor, Role Model, History Maker". Detroit Free Press. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Many Thanks to Rachel Boone Keith". Detroit Free Press. 2007-01-05. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Detroit NAACP Raises Record $1 Million at Freedom Dinner". Jet: 14–15. May 23, 1988.
  8. Keith, Rachel B. (1960-03-12). "What My Religion Means to Me". Detroit Free Press. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Gaskill, Myrtle (1973-10-29). "African Art Benefit". Detroit Free Press. p. 29. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Witsil, Frank. "Judge Damon Keith's education, best-known cases and clerks". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. Griffith, Antionette D. (2007-09-23). "Health Care Notables to be Lauded". Detroit Free Press. p. 142. Retrieved 2021-02-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Collection: Rachel Boone Keith Papers". ArchivesSpace@Wayne. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  16. Brand-Williams, Oralandar. "Funeral arrangements set for Judge Damon J. Keith". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  17. "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.
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