Alyce Chenault Gullattee

{{Infobox person

| name = Alyce Chenault Gullattee

| image = AlyceChenaultGullattee1971.png

| alt = An African-American woman with an Afro hairstyle, from a 1971 photo.

| caption = Alyce Chenault Gullattee, from a 1971 issue of Essence magazine.

| other_names =

| birth_name = Alyce Vantoria Chenault

| birth_date = June 28, 1928

| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|4|30|1928|6|28}}

| death_place = Rockville, Maryland U.S.

| occupation = Physician, psychiatrist, addiction specialist

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| spouse(s) =

| relatives =

}}

Alyce Chenault Gullattee (June 28, 1928 – April 30, 2020) was an American psychiatrist, medical school professor, activist, and expert on addiction.

She was a faculty member in the psychiatry department at Howard University College of Medicine for over fifty years.

Early life and education

Alyce Vantoria Chenault{{Cite book|last=Berkeley|first=University of California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvw4AQAAMAAJ&q=Alyce+Chenault+Gullattee&pg=RA12-PP9|title=Register - University of California|date=1957|publisher=University of California Press|language=en}} was born in Detroit, Michigan, one of the twelve children of Earl Chenault and Ella Bertha McLendon Chenault.{{Cite journal|date=September 1972|title=Interview with Dr. Alyce Gullattee|url=https://dh.howard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=domiabra|journal=Domiabra|volume=2|pages=5–8}} Her father worked in the automobile industry.{{Cite news|last=Rifkin|first=Glenn|date=2020-08-23|title=Dr. Alyce Gullattee, Expert on Substance Abuse, Dies at 91|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/23/obituaries/dr-alyce-gullattee-dead-coronavirus.html|access-date=2020-12-06|issn=0362-4331}} She graduated from Northern High School in Detroit in 1946.{{Cite web|last=Helfgott|first=Esther Altshul|date=June 20, 2020|title=Alyce Chenault Gullattee (1928-2020)|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/alyce-chenault-gullattee-1928-2020/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Black Past|language=en-US}} She earned a bachelor's degree in zoology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1956, and a medical degree at Howard University in 1964, with residencies at St. Elizabeths Hospital and George Washington University Hospital, both in Washington, D.C. She was a member of Zeta Phi Beta, a Black sorority.{{Cite web|last=Frederick|first=Wayne A. I.|date=May 4, 2020|title=In Memoriam: Alyce Chenault Gullattee, M.D.|url=https://newsroom.howard.edu/newsroom/article/12406/memoriam-alyce-chenault-gullattee-md|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Howard Newsroom|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=April 17, 1980|title=Beta Zeta Chapter, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority|page=12|work=Washington Informer}}

Career

In 1952, Gullattee worked at the Southwest Settlement House in Washington, D.C., and started a supervised playground program.{{Cite news|last=Nichols|first=Harman W.|date=1952-07-23|title=Something Nice and No Tax|pages=7|work=The Herald-Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64769366/something-nice-and-no-taxharman-w/|access-date=2020-12-07}} Gullattee joined the faculty of Howard University in 1970, in the department of neuropsychiatry.{{Cite web|title=Physicians of the Civil Rights Movement|url=https://som.georgetown.edu/civil-rights-physicians/|access-date=2020-12-07|website=School of Medicine|language=en-US}} She was director of the university's Institute on Drug Abuse and Addiction. She was also a clinical professor at Howard University Hospital. She was known to visit active addicts directly, bringing them to the hospital for further treatment, even knitting a baby blanket for an addicted patient's newborn son.{{Cite news|last=Rowan|first=Carl T.|date=1981-03-26|title=Heroin and Tragedy at a Very Early Age|pages=13|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64773651/heroin-and-tragedy-at-a-very-early/|access-date=2020-12-07|via=Newspapers.com}} She also consulted on psychiatric matters for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Arlington County, Virginia.Lewis, Ida. "Conversation: Alyce Gullattee" Essence 2 (June 1971): 28-30. She served on the board of trustees of Wesleyan University, on the National Medical Association's Drug Committee, and on several White House drug task forces. She had a long association with the NAACP, in various local leadership positions in California.

Gullattee was a founder and first president of the Student National Medical Association. She was called as a consultant to the scene of the Attica Prison violence in 1971. She was a speaker at a conference on Black Women at the University of Louisville in 1974; "I believe that the role of the female as an agent of change has been overlooked," she explained.{{Cite news|last=Nolan|first=Irene|date=1974-03-09|title=Society is Taking a New Look at the Black Woman|pages=7|work=The Courier-Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64768836/society-is-taking-a-new-look-at-the/|access-date=2020-12-07|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1983, she was head of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services Administration (ADASA) of the city of Washington, D.C.,{{Cite news|date=May 4, 1983|title=D.C. Government Launches Campaign On Drug Abuse|page=3|work=Washington Informer}} and was a speaker at the first National Conference on Black Women's Health Issues, held at Spelman College.{{Cite journal|last=Butler|first=Edith|date=September 30, 1983|title=The First National Conference On Black Women's Health Issues|journal=WomenWise|volume=6|pages=2}}

In 1989, she was in the news concerning a police report on the cocaine addiction and overdose hospitalizations of Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry.{{Cite news|date=1989-11-29|title=D. C. Mayor's Alleged Overdose Disputed|pages=3|work=Lansing State Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64769881/d-c-mayors-alleged-overdose-disputed/|access-date=2020-12-07|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|last=Brown|first=Tony|date=December 12, 1989|title=D.C. Mayor: Drug Addict Or Scapegoat?|page=B1|work=Columbus Times}} She denied that she had made any such report.{{Cite news|date=1989-12-01|title=Woman Denies D.C. Mayor Story|pages=7|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64774029/woman-denies-dc-mayor-story/|access-date=2020-12-07|via=Newspapers.com}}

Personal life and death

Alyce Chenault married educator Latinee Gullattee in 1948, in Santa Barbara. They had four children,{{Cite news|date=June 5, 1971|title=Black Psychiatrist Says Sex Manuals Were Written For Whites|page=13|work=Sun Reporter}} including daughters Deborjha and Aishaetu. She suffered a stroke in February 2020, and died from COVID-19 in Rockville, Maryland, on April 30, 2020, at age 91.{{Cite web|date=2020-05-20|title=In Memoriam: Alyce Chenault Gullattee, 1928-2020|url=https://www.wiareport.com/2020/05/in-memoriam-alyce-chenault-gullattee-1928-2020/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Women In Academia Report}}