J. Blaine Blayton
Encyclopedia
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in the Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
area who lived in the Grove Community
Grove, Virginia
Grove is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County in the Peninsula subregion of Virginia in the United States. It is located in the center of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, communities linked by the Colonial Parkway; the area is one of the busiest...
in adjacent James City County
James City County, Virginia
James City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the...
. He practiced medicine for over 50 years, and was also a civic leader.
Early years
Blayton was born in Indian TerritoryIndian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
(now Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
) in 1905. He attended school in a two-room schoolhouse. He earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Career
Dr. Blayton began his medical practice on the Virginia PeninsulaVirginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
during the first half of the 20th century. It was a time when Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
was still highly racially segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
under the old Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
which were later overturned by various U.S. Supreme Court decisions beginning in the 1950s and before the new Civil Rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
laws of the 1960s were enacted.
He came to Williamsburg in 1931 from the city of Newport News
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. He had been persuaded to set up his medical practice in the area by African-American residents who had been traveling to Newport News (about 30 miles distant) for medical appointments and care. He settled with his family in the Grove Community in southeastern James City County, about 7 miles east of Williamsburg.
During his half-century of practice, Dr. Blayton made house calls across a wide area of the Peninsula extending from New Kent County
New Kent County, Virginia
At the 2000 census, there were 13,462 people, 4,925 households and 3,895 families residing in the county. The population density was 64 per square mile . There were 5,203 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
on the west to what was then Warwick County
Warwick County, Virginia
Warwick County was a county in Southeast Virginia that was created from Warwick River Shire, one of eight created in the Virginia Colony in 1634. It became the City of Warwick on July 16, 1952...
(now the western 2/3 of Newport News) on the east. During the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, he served as a New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
public health physician, and built the two-bed Blayton Maternity Hospital for the African-American community.
In 1952, Dr. Blayton opened a new 14-bed hospital with an emergency room in Williamsburg for African Americans because they were only allowed beds in the basement of the only other existing hospital in town, which was owned and operated by a white physician. He also opened a sandwich and soda shop to serve young people shut out of other facilities by segregation.
Dr. Blayton's Medical Center Clinic was the primary health care facility for the Williamsburg area's African-American citizens until the 1961 opening of the fully integrated Williamsburg Community Hospital
Williamsburg Community Hospital
Williamsburg Community Hospital was located in Williamsburg, Virginia, and served the community from 1961 until 2006. In August 2006, it was replaced by a newer and larger facility, the 139-bed Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, located in adjacent York County, Virginia.After patients...
, which Dr. Blayton helped to raise money to build. In 2006, the 1961 community facility was replaced by larger facility 139-bed facility known as Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center.
Dr. Blayton was appointed to the Virginia State Board of Medical Examiners by Virginia Governor
Governor of Virginia
The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
Charles S. Robb.
In 1999, he was honored by the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation as one of the first three recipients of its Healthcare Heroes Recognition Award.
Civic roles
Dr. Blayton was also active in non-medical civic matters, such as education and recreation in the Williamsburg community. He served as the first African-American member of the James City County School Board. He was co-chairman of the campaign to raise $250,000 for the construction of Quarterpath Park, director of health and safety for the Peninsula Boy ScoutsBoy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
for 25 years, and a life member of the NAACP.
Personal life
In 1963, Dr. Blayton's son, Oscar H. Blayton, became the first African American to attend the College of William and MaryCollege of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
as an undergraduate. He graduated from Yale University Law School in 1977, and opened a law practice in Williamsburg.
A residential facility for senior citizens was built in downtown Williamsburg and named the Blayton Building in Dr. Blayton's honor.
During its 2003 session, the Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
passed Resolution No. 844 "Celebrating the life of Dr. J. Blaine Blayton."
On October 2, 2010, the joint school board operated by Williamsburg and James City County dedicated its newest elementary school in his honor. The new J. Blaine Blayton Elementary School, with a capacity of 700 students, began enrolling its first students for the 2010-11 school year. Located on Jolly Pond Road, it was built at a cost of $17.2 million dollars.