John A. Kenney Sr.
{{short description|American physician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox medical person
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| name = John A. Kenney Sr.
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| image = John A. Kenney, M. D. 0051.jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1874|06|11}}
| birth_place = Albemarle County, Virginia
| death_date = {{death date and age|1950|01|29|1874|06|11}}
| death_place = Montclair, New Jersey
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| education = Hampton University, Leonard Medical School
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| relations = John A. Kenney Jr. (son)
William Oscar Armstrong (father-in-law){{cite news |title=William Oscar Armstrong |work=The Boston Globe |date=May 23, 1932}}
| profession = Surgeon
| field = Surgery
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John Andrew Kenney Sr. (June 11, 1874{{snd}}January 29, 1950) was an African-American surgeon who was the medical director and chief surgeon of the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, from 1902 to 1922. He served as secretary of the National Medical Association (NMA) from 1904 to 1912, and was elected president of the NMA in 1912.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/12/07/john-a-kenney-jr-89/b26bfa6c-5c46-4f31-9540-11cefb734352/ |title=John A. Kenney Jr., 89 |date=2003-12-07 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=2018-03-22 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} He was the editor-in-chief of its journal, the Journal of the National Medical Association, from 1916 to 1948.{{Cite journal |date=January 1956 |title=John Andrew Kenney, M.D., 1874-1950 |journal=Journal of the National Medical Association |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=75 |pmc=2641163 |pmid=20893791}} He also served as the personal physician of both Booker T. Washington{{Cite journal|last1=Morrison|first1=Sheena M.|last2=Fee|first2=Elizabeth|date=2010-04-01|title=The Journal of the National Medical Association: A Voice for Civil Rights and Social Justice|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=100|issue=S1|pages=S70–S71|doi=10.2105/ajph.2009.175042|issn=0090-0036|pmc=2837443|pmid=20147673}} and George Washington Carver.{{Cite web|date=2009|title=Guide to the Papers of John A. Kenney|url=http://archive.tuskegee.edu/archive/bitstream/handle/123456789/96/John%20A.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|website=Tuskegee University|page=3|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-date=March 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323030842/http://archive.tuskegee.edu/archive/bitstream/handle/123456789/96/John%20A.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|url-status=dead}}
Biography
John A. Kenney was born in Albemarle County, Virginia on June 11, 1874. He was educated at Hampton Institute and Shaw University, and earned his medical degree from Leonard Medical College in 1901.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalcycloped00unse/page/45/mode/1up |title=The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race |volume=1 |editor-first=Clement |editor-last=Richardson |publisher=National Publishing Company |location=Montgomery, Alabama |page=45 |year=1919 |access-date=2021-11-23 |via=Internet Archive}}
After fleeing Tuskegee in 1924 under threat from the KKK,{{cite web |title=Dr. John A. Kenney, Sr. |url=https://soulvisionmagazine.com/dr-john-a-kenney-sr/ |website=SoulVision Magazine |date=March 31, 2022 |access-date=11 March 2023}} he first took refuge in Dr. George E. Cannon's home.George Dows Cannon, Medicine Plus: The Autobiography of a Black Doctor, unpublished, p. 17 He went on to found the Kenney Memorial Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Between 1927 and 1934, Kenney Memorial served 4,543 bed patients, 584 free clinic patients and performed 1,109 operations with only 19 deaths. The hospital was renamed the Booker T. Washington Community Hospital in 1935. It closed in 1953. The building was purchased by the New Salem Baptist Church in 1959{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=National Register of Historic Places |url=http://archives.njit.edu/archlib/digital-projects/2010s/2010/articles/njit-naa-2010-0069-a.pdf}} and is on the National Register of Historic Places.{{Cite web|title=Kenney Memorial Hospital · DANA|url=https://dana.njit.edu/items/show/468|access-date=2021-03-24|website=dana.njit.edu}} A museum honoring Kenney is planned for the site.{{Cite web|last=NJ.com|first=Barry Carter {{!}} NJ Advance Media for|date=2020-02-01|title=Pioneering doc opened N.J. hospital for black patients. Museum will honor him.|url=https://www.nj.com/essex/2020/02/pioneering-doc-opened-njs-1st-hospital-for-black-patients-museum-will-honor-him.html|access-date=2021-03-24|website=nj|language=en}}
In 1939, Kenney returned to Tuskegee to head the Tuskegee Institute Hospital. In 1944, Kenney moved back to Montclair, New Jersey and saw patients at his home, alongside his son John A. Kenney Jr. The Kenneys were a medical family: sons John A. Jr. and Howard were doctors, and daughter Elizabeth Kenney Quisenberry worked with Dr. M.O. Bousfield, who became president of the National Medical Association. Middle son Oscar A. Kenney was a Tuskegee Airman killed in a plane crash near Tuskegee Army Air Field during a "routine training flight."{{cite news |title=Tuskegee Crash Kills Army Air Pilot |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1042309988/ |access-date=March 13, 2025 |publisher=Washington Afro American |date=July 17, 1943}} Kenney's wife Frieda Kenney was the first African-American woman to graduate from Boston University.{{Cite web|last=Orel|first=Gwen|title=History & Heritage: Dr. John Kenney's healing and hope, from Tuskegee to Montclair {{!}} Montclair Local News|url=https://www.montclairlocal.news/2018/03/01/dr-john-kenney-african-american-montclair/|access-date=2021-03-24|website=www.montclairlocal.news|date=March 2018 |language=en-US}}
He died at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey on January 29, 1950.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89446883/obituary-dr-john-a-kenney-noted/ |title=Obituary: Dr. John A. Kenney, Noted Surgeon |newspaper=Paterson Evening News |location=Montclair |agency=AP |page=61 |date=1950-01-30 |access-date=2021-11-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
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Category:20th-century African-American physicians
Category:20th-century American physicians
Category:People from Albemarle County, Virginia
Category:Hampton University alumni
Category:Shaw University alumni
Category:Medical journal editors
Category:People from Tuskegee, Alabama
Category:Physicians from Alabama