The 2226 Hampton Street project, a Columbia, South Carolina project focused on a civil rights era doctor’s office and the people who practiced medicine there, seeks information about Dr. Vera McBryde, a Latta SC native and one of the site’s few female doctors.
The 2226 Hampton Street project, focused on the civil rights era doctor’s office and the oral histories of Black medical personnel who practiced there before and after segregation, has been awarded 2018 funding by the Richland County Conservation Commission, which administers historic preservation grants and by Richland County through its Hospitality Tax grant program. The 2226 Hampton Street site, slated for restoration, is located in Columbia’s Waverly neighborhood, a City of Columbia Protection Area and one of the few African American residential districts in South Carolina that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The office was built while black physician and surgeon Dr. Cyril Spann worked at Good Samaritan – Waverly Hospital, a facility which served black patients during segregation, a few years before the hospital closed in 1973. Recent research reveals that 2226 Hampton was operated exclusively by African-American physicians from 1964 until 1995.
The project is a partnership between Tomlinson Alumni Incorporated and Tnovsa Global Commons. The University of South Carolina Office of Oral History will conduct interviews with these physicians and their descendants. Additional funders and supporters include the Congaree Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Association; Delta Eta and Delta Eta Alpha Beta Chapters of Chi Eta Phi Nursing Sorority, Inc.; the National Council of Negro Women, Columbia SC Chapter; the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health, and Mrs. Jean Hopkins. In addition, the project hopes to coordinate with Allen University restoration of Good Samaritan Waverly Hospital building and the owners of the Matilda Evans House and others in providing public programs that shine a light on the area’s Black medical past.
Those with pictures and other information about the professional or family history of Dr. Vera McBryde may contact Catherine Fleming Bruce, Project Director, at tnovsacfb@gmail.com or 803-587-9712.
