title
PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION OF THE COOK COUNTY WOMEN'S CAUCUS HONORING THE 1ST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF COOK COUNTY HOSPITAL, DR. AGNES LATTIMER FOR HER ILLUSTRIOUS AND TRAILBLAZING CAREER
WHEREAS, Dr. Agnes Lattimer was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Arthur O'Neil and Hortense Lewis Lattimer on May 13, 1928, the oldest of six children and even as a young child knew that she wanted to become a doctor; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Lattimer was valedictorian of Booker T. Washington High School and received a full scholarship to Fisk University, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.; and
WHEREAS, as a young woman planning a career in medicine in the 1940s and 1950s, Agnes D. Lattimer faced the triple obstacles of poverty, sexism, and racism, yet she refused to be discouraged saying, "No obstacles could deter me from my purpose. Not the negative attitudes of others, not lack of money, nor lack of encouragement from outside my family; nothing could dissuade me from my goal."; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from Fisk University she moved to Chicago and worked as a housekeeper for 18 months to save for medical school and applied and was accepted to three medical schools in Chicago; The Chicago Medical School, the Northwestern University School of Medicine, and the University of Chicago School of Medicine; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Lattimer enrolled in the Chicago Medical School in 1950 and encountered prejudice from the start, enduring almost daily questions about her place as a woman in medical school, but would go on to graduate as the only African American in her class and one of just two women, in 1954; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Lattimer completed her residency in Pediatrics at Michael Reese Hospital and became Chief Resident in her final year of the program and eventually became director of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Reese Hospital, where she revamped the patient care delivery system, bringing efficien...
Click here for full text