|
Essay Directory
2007 - 2008 Essays
Liberty Ladies
College: A Modern Educational Experience
by Alyssa Emery
Liberty Rising:
the 1934 Fire
by Rachel Ibok
Zerelda Mimms James:
Lover of a
Bandit
by Lindsey Melvin
2006 - 2007 Essays
Convention City
by
Lilia Toson
David Rice Atchison:
A Champion of the
People
by
Jesus Lopez
Dr. Seymore Pearley -
Clay County's First
African American Dentist
by Hayley VanderStel
Humphrey “Yankee” Smith
by Jonathan Entzminger
Missouri City in Black and White
or
Rebuilding a Culture
by Devin DeMoure
The Drake Constitution: When Missouri White
Men Could Not Vote
by
Kali Shipley
The Other James Brother
by Madison McGraw
White Oak: A Tender Side
of the Racial
Divide
by
Evelaca Dobbins
Home Page - William Jewell Essays
Home Page - WindingRiver.com
|
 Hayley
VanderStel is a chemistry major at William Jewell College. She
enjoys writing as a break from scientific work, and has written and
self-published a children’s book titled Lucy the Manatee.
Dr. Seymore Pearley –
Clay County’s First
African American
Dentist
Dr.
Seymore Pearly, the first African American dentist in Independence,
Missouri, was born to Maggie and Henry Pearly on August 14, 1900 in
Liberty, Missouri. He grew up in a large family, the third of nine
children. Pearley graduated from the all-black Garrison school in Liberty,
then moved on to attend the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, where he
played football from 1918-1920. Dr. Pearley then attended Howard
University Medical School in Washington, D.C., and Meharry Medical College
in Nashville, and received a degree in dentistry.
In
1928, Dr. Pearley set up his dental practice at 136 East Farmer in
Independence in a small four-roomed house. As a patient entered the
office, strains of the most popular current songs coming from the radio
greeted him. He could peruse a magazine while Dr. Pearley went into one of
the two back rooms, which served for patient records storage, to pull the
patient’s chart: “All right, come on in,” he’d call, and the patient would
proceed into the room which housed the dentist’s chair and medicine chest.
Dr. Pearley would perform whatever operation was necessary–fillings,
crowns, caps, lancing–all on his own, with no nurses or assistants. Dr.
Pearley was not limited to the confines of his office–if a patient could
not come to him for any reason, Dr. Pearly would go to the patient.
All
dentists receive basic medical training before they begin to learn their
specialty. At the time when Dr. Pearley began practicing, people of color
were not allowed to visit white doctors (or dentists). Since Dr. Pearley
was the only medically trained African American in the area, he would
visit the rural counties around Independence to see if anyone needed
medical care. According to Bill Curtis, Dr. Pearley’s close friend, “He
provided an absolutely essential job when no one else had done it
before.”
The
Great Depression began the year after Dr. Pearley set up his practice.
Throughout the Depression, he did not receive any money for his services;
instead he was paid with chickens, eggs, or vegetables from his patient’s
farms. This type of payment obviously did not improve his own financial
status, but he was more concerned with the well-being of the community
than with his personal gain. After the Depression, he was paid less than
white dentists for the same services, simply because he was African
American, but he continued to serve without complaint. He had patients of
both races who would come to his office, although the majority of them
were African American.
Dr.
Pearley married Iona Doris Williams on December 21, 1935. The couple had
two daughters, Doris and Mary, and one son, Henry. Iona served on the
Mayor’s Advisory Committee, and was a schoolteacher at the all-black Hiram
Young School, which was the highest working position that an African
American woman could hold during the Great Depression.
Being
a public servant and contributing to society were important to Dr. Pearley;
therefore, he dedicated himself to serving the Independence community
during his lifetime. Not only did he fulfill the community’s dental and
medical needs, but he founded the first African American Boy Scout troop
in Independence –Troop 291, and was a member of the Board of Trustees at
St. Paul A.M.E. Church. He coached boy’s basketball at the Hiram Young
School, and performed dental exams for the school children through the
Independence Health Department. His son, Henry, said that his father was
community and family oriented. He remembers one birthday, when he was
attending a Boy Scout camp in Osceola, Missouri, that his father missed
the bus to the camp. Dr. Pearley walked the entire distance (almost
two hundred miles from Independence) to bring him a birthday cake. To
quote Henry, “That was my dad.”
His
daughters, Mary Williams and Doris Harrison, also have fond memories of
their father. Mary remembers that “he walked everywhere he went, and even
Harry Truman knew my dad, and they would stop and talk.” She once met
President Truman while on a walk with her father. Doris recalls that every
Christmas, her father made sure they had a Christmas tree: “We may not
have gotten it until Christmas Eve, but we always had one.” It was a
special tradition for the family.
Dr.
Pearley was an excellent dentist as well as an excellent community member
and father; he received two Presidential awards from Meharry Medical
College in recognition of his exceptional work, as well as the Governor’s
Award for Community Work as a dentist. In addition, he was honored with an
award from the Concerned Citizens of Independence, and with a football
award from the Lincoln Institute. He was a member of the American Dental
Association, and a member of the Midwestern State Dental Association.
In
1978, Dr. Pearley retired after fifty years of practicing dentistry and
serving the Independence community. He passed away five years later, on
August 28, 1983, at the age of 83, and his family buried him in the
Woodlawn Cemetery in Independence.
Dr.
Pearley’s children have followed his traditions and values. They are all
involved in church; Henry has worked with the Boy Scouts, Mary educates
individuals on becoming organ donors, and Doris worked many years with the
Kiwanis organization.
Dr.
Pearley’s dedication to service is an example for us all. His love for his
family, his love for his community, and his willingness to serve are all
the qualities that made him a truly great man.
Works Cited
Curtis, William. Telephone interview, Feb. 2007.
Harrison, Doris. Telephone interview, Feb. 2007.
Pearley, Henry. Telephone interview, Feb. 2007.
Williams, Mary.
Telephone interview, Feb. 2007.
Home Page - William Jewell Essays
Home Page - WindingRiver.com |
