Frank Jeremiah Armstrong (April 15, 1877 – November 2, 1946) was an American physician who was the first African-American graduate of

Cornell College Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally the Iowa Conference Seminary (Methodist), the school was founded in 1853 by George Bryant Bowman. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell Co ...

. He was the assistant of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

and later became a physician. He was murdered in his office in 1946, possibly by a burglar after a hospital's narcotics.

Personal life and career

Armstrong graduated in 1900 from Cornell College as the first African American to do so. His nickname at Cornell was "Buck". He began playing

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

as a part of the Marion Ravens when he was 13 years old, and he played during the 1890s. Armstrong was a part of the college's Adelphian Literary Society and was a secretary of the society for one spring. In 1900, his final year in college, he was the captain of the baseball team. Booker T. Washington was announced as a speaker by Armstrong during the commencement ceremony, leading to Washington hiring Armstrong as his assistant. He received a medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1912 (which became the

University of Illinois College of Medicine The University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to the MD degree at four different sites in Illinois: Chicago, Peoria, Illinois, Peoria, Rockford, Illinois, Rockford, and formerly Champaign–Urbana metropolitan ...

in 1913). Armstrong became a physician in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He was a part of the Chicago Medical Society, the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

, and the

National Medical Association The National Medical Association (NMA) is the largest and oldest organization representing African Americans, African American physicians and their patients in the United States. As a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) national professional and sc ...

. Armstrong married Jessie Marie Lucas in Chicago, on December 22, 1915. They had no children. His college commencement address is in the 1905 book ''A Record of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the College'', published by Cornell College.

Death

Armstrong was murdered in his office by gunshot on November 2, 1946, when he was 69 years old by a suspected burglar, but nothing was stolen. His body was found by a patient who called for help. He was survived by his wife Jessie Marie Armstrong and a $1,000 reward was offered by the police. It was later suspected that the murderer was part of a group after a narcotics safe at Providence hospital.

Legacy

A student residential house and community center on the campus of Cornell College was named in his honor in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Frank Jeremiah 1870s births 1946 deaths Cornell College alumni 20th-century African-American physicians 20th-century American physicians People murdered in Chicago Booker T. Washington Deaths by firearm in Illinois People murdered in 1946