The Lasting Legacy of Dr. John L.S. Hollomon, Jr.

Saturday, April 18th, 2015, 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Harlem Hospital Center Atrium
THE HARLEM CULTURAL ARCHIVES
506 Lenox Avenue (136th St.)
Manhattan

Dignitaries Attending: Former Mayor David N. Dinkins, Councilmember Inez E. Dickens, Congressman Charles B. Rangel, Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright, Hon. Hazel N. Dukes, Judge W. Franc Perry, Kim Taylor-Thompson, Esq., Hon. Milton A. Tingling, Voza Rivers

John Lawrence Sullivan Holloman, Jr. M.D. was born in Washington, D.C. Holloman received his B.S. cum laude from Virginia Union University, Richmond Virginia, In 1940, Majoring in biochemistry. In 1943 he was awarded the M.D. by the University of Michigan.

After an internship in Harlem Hospital, New York, Dr. Holloman served two years in the Medical Corps of the US Army, ending with rank of Captain. He served in Carlisle, Pa., Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and Fort Dix, N. J. After the Army, Dr. Holloman took a six-month postgraduate course in internal medicine during a part of which he was an admitting physician at Bellevue Hospital. He returned to Harlem Hospital for the year 1946-47, as chief resident in medicine.

In 1948 he entered private practice in New York. In the Medical Society of the County of New York, Dr. Holloman served on the Continuing Committee Against Discrimination and the Committee on Legislation. He was a member of the New York State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Manhattan Central Medical Society, the American Geriatric Society and the Association of Military Surgeons. Dr. Holloman was a member of the Board of Trustees of Virginia Union University for about 10 years and its president for four years. He was temporary chairman of the defunct Medical Committee for Civil Rights in 1963-64 and was chairman of the Medical Committee for Human Rights until 1966.

In his private practice and in leadership roles with medical associations, Dr. Holloman battled for health care for the poor. He relentlessly attacked racist practices in the American Medical Association and was a prominent early voice warning of the threat of AIDS among minorities. However, he was best known as president of the New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) in the mid-1970’s. At the time, he was reportedly the country’s highest-ranking black person in health care.

“Co-naming a street corner after Dr. Holloman pays tribute to an activist whose only agenda was to do what he sincerely believed would enhance the quality of life of those around him; his lasting legacy should inspire all of us to continue the work he started.”

About The Harlem Cultural Archives (HCA): Chartered by the NYS Board of Regents in 2008, HCA, a 501(c)(3) public charity, is a donor supported historical society specializing in the process of unearthing, preserving and disseminating Harlem’s lasting legacies and hidden history.

Contact: Glenn A. Hunter, Harlem Cultural Archives (917) 817-4993