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‘Living the legacy’
Friday, February 16, 2007 9:38 AM
CST
Searcy’s first black female doctor to
kick off Black History month
By Warren Watkins
The Daily Citizen
As a black woman, Mitzi Washington had what some may have
thought were two reasons to not succeed, but she was
victorious in her struggles, becoming Searcy’s first
black female doctor.
“Living the Legacy” is the theme
for the 2007 Black History month celebration in White
County, and events are scheduled to begin tonight and
continue through the weekend. Events will focus on the
legacy of black forefathers, past or recent, and
encompasses rights of all forms.
Dr. Mitzi A. Washington will be the keynote speaker for
the opening reception tonight at 7 p.m. in the Lightle
Center.
“She is the first black female doctor
from Searcy,” Marva Holiday, chairman of the White
County Black History Awareness Committee, said. “Her
mother was a teacher at McRae Elementary School.”
Holiday said Washington is an example and a role model.
“She can mentor young people that she
doesn’t even know she’s reaching out to,” Holiday
said. “They can look at her and say, ‘She was born and
raised in Searcy, she overcame whatever obstacles she had
to face and she succeeded. She made it, and if she made
it, I can do it, too.’”
Washington is an example by the way she lives her life and
raises her children, especially with all the many hats she
wears, Holiday said.
“People can say, ‘I’d like to be like Mitzi,’”
Holiday said. “The example she has set for young people
has been phenomenal.”
The daughter of Daniel Hunt Washington and Mary Evelyn
Washington, of Searcy, Washington is a 1980 graduate of
Searcy High School, a 1984 graduate of Hendrix College and
a 1989 graduate of the University of Arkansas Medical
School. While attending UAMS, she was chief resident for
two years and is currently an internist and pediatrician
at the St. Vincent Family Clinic in Jacksonville.
Washington serves on the Hendrix University Board of
Trustees and is described as a dedicated worker at St.
Mary CME Church in Searcy.
“I want to emphasize what a legacy is, and what it means
to truly live,” Washington said in a preview of her
remarks. “My hope is to give some real life examples of
how legacies are being lived.”
One person Washington will point to as a living legacy is
Leon Johnson, last year’s keynote speaker and a
practicing attorney in Little Rock.
“He is a man who comes from a very difficult background
but who is a hard educated but well educated man,”
Washington said. “He strived to keep his children in an
integrated world without failing to remember who he was
and where he came from before he got his education.”
Washington’s mother was the librarian at the White
County Training School, the name for the segregated black
school before integration took place in Searcy in 1965 and
1966.
Parade and concert
African-Americans of White County who are making history
will be highlighted in a parade tomorrow morning at 11
a.m. beginning at the intersection of North Hussey and
East Race Streets and continuing to Spring Park.
Immediately after the parade, a free fellowship will be
held in Spring Park.
Sunday at 7 p.m. the Philander Smith Collegiate Choir will
present a concert at the First United Methodist Church in
Searcy.
For more information on the weekend’s events, call any
member of the White County Black History Awareness
Committee at 268-6535. Members include William Gant,
Joseph Washington, Joseph Lee, Angela Byrd-Poindexter and
Ella Watson.
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