Union Colored Congregational Church . Like others , he was involved in efforts to improve conditions for African heritage workers through the Colored National Labor Union and was the first African heritage person to serve on the Newport School Board . He was also the first African heritage person to serve in the Rhode Island General Assembly and was later appointed general counsel to the Danish West Indies by President William McKinley during the Spanish-American War . His son carried on his legacy : Dr . M . Alonzo Van Horne ( Stokes ’ great-uncle ) was the state ’ s first African heritage dentist and founded the Newport branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1919 .
DR . HARRIETT A . RICE
After growing up in Newport , Dr . Harriett A . Rice became the first African heritage person to graduate from Wellesley College in 1887 and studied medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and the Women ’ s Medical College of New York . She was
shut out of practicing at many American hospitals and instead worked at Hull House in Chicago and treated patients at French military hospitals during World War I . For her services , she received the Medal of French Gratitude . Her brother , Dr . George Rice , also worked as a physician in Scotland after graduating from Dartmouth College .
DR . MARCUS F . WHEATLAND
Dr . Marcus F . Wheatland graduated from Howard University Medical School and set up his practice in Newport in 1895 . He was a popular choice of physician among the island ’ s elite , possibly because he was one of the earliest doctors of any race to use the X-ray machine as a diagnostic tool . He served as president of the National Medical Association and was elected to the Newport City Council . — L . C .
OLD HOMETOWNE TENNIS AND ATHLETIC CLUB
TENNIS WASN ’ T JUST FOR THE Astors and Vanderbilts . In 1927 , leaders associated with Newport ’ s four African heritage churches , the Newport NAACP and other civic associations came together to establish the Old Hometowne Tennis and Athletic Club . The club hosted tournaments on regulation-size courts in the backyard of Mt . Olivet Baptist Church on Thames Street . Among the founders was Cromwell Payne West , a Philadelphia transplant who operated a successful pharmacy on the corner of Caleb Earl Street and Broadway . “ The origins of the Old Hometowne Tennis Club and many other recreational activities that dominated the African heritage Newport landscape of the era arose at a time when African Americans were active inhabitants of a new type of urban setting — the resort community ,” Stokes says . “ People , and their social and recreational activities , who came from all over the country and in some cases , the world , were all converging upon Gilded Age Newport .” — L . C .
“ The origins of the Old Hometowne tennis club and many other recreational activities that dominated the african heritage newport landscape of the era arose at a time when african americans were active inhabitants of a new type of urban setting — the resort communitY .”
— KEITH STOKES
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2023 57