Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 12/Dr. Ida Mae Hiram

Dr. Ida Mae Hiram
Education	Meharry Medical College
Occupation	Dentist

==Biography==

Early Life

Dr. Ida Mae Hiram was born sometime in the late 1800s in Athens, Georgia, where she was raised by her father after her mother died when Hiram was six years old. Her grandfather was born in Africa but was captured and brought to the United States where he was enslaved at a young age. Hiram’s father was born into slavery, but was later freed and moved to Athens to start a new life.

Education

Hiram’s father was adamant about her receiving a good education. While in Georgia, she attended an African American high school called the Knox Institute. After this, she realized she “had gone as far as [her] education would be possible” in Athens, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Meharry Medical College.

Career

Dr. Ida Mae Hiram originally had hopes to become a teacher, but after marrying a dentist and having a daughter, she decided to attend dental school. She graduated as the only African American woman in her class in 1910, and started a career in dentistry with her husband shortly after. In an interview with the Federal Writer’s Project, Hiram claimed to be the only African American woman “practicing dentistry anywhere,” emphasizing the rarity of both African American and female professionals in the dental field. Although it is unknown when Dr. Ida Mae Hiram died, she left the legacy of being the first African American woman to be licensed as a dentist in the state of Georgia.

Social Issues

African Americans in the Jim Crow South

The African American community living in the South during the time of Jim Crow faced unique challenges due to their race. Jim Crow laws were enforced in the early 1900s, and they provided a legal way for African Americans to be discriminated against in every aspect of their day to day lives, including in education and the workforce. These two factors affected by Jim Crow, education and employment, are interconnected: due to the inadequate education in the South, many African Americans did not have the qualifications needed for higher paying jobs, so they worked as sharecroppers or in factories, with low salaries that left many in poverty.

Education

Since education for African Americans was not prioritized, it often was underfunded; schools were provided with significantly fewer, older, or damaged resources that were not of much use. Colleges and universities for African Americans were less accessible due to the fact that they were mainly found in the North. This led to a “migration of blacks from the South” that “became strongly selective for literacy after 1910,” since many African Americans had to travel to receive their college degree. Even if there were an option in the South closer to home, the programs offered often did not meet academic standards, whereas programs at the white schools did.

Employment

In the workforce, African Americans were denied jobs simply because of their skin color. In 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Committee, or the FEPC, to prohibit racial discrimination in the workforce, specifically in the defense industries. The FEPC failed to protect African American workers, as it worked with the United States Employment Services, another agency which was “staffed by local officials committed to maintaining Jim Crow and reserving the best jobs for whites,” reinforcing racial discrimination from a local standpoint. Instances of racial discrimination in the workforce were not uncommon. In the profession of dentistry, African American dentists created the National Dental Association after being denied membership to many professional dental groups in 1913. Since they were excluded from other groups and therefore not being represented, they established the NDA as a community for professionals of a similar background to come together and inspire the next generation of African American dentists.

The Role of Women in the Early 1900s

Women across the United States were expected to stick to the domestic sphere in the early 20th century. In the South, it was common for women to do the cooking, cleaning, and childcare at home while their husband worked and made an income to provide for the family. Women who did work were not treated with the same level of respect as their male coworkers, even if they held the same position. Under the eyes of the law, African American women were not even considered female in the Georgia prison system. These women were forced to work as domestic servants for white families, doing almost the same domestic work that African Americans were forced to do in the times of slavery. This discrimination within the prison system is reflective of the Georgia law’s failure to protect African American women, as well the lack of value the law placed on their lives in the South. Due to both the legal and social pressures placed against them, women were most often found at home, not working in a prominent profession. There was a clear social hierarchy, with African American women being at the bottom. The passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which granted women the right to vote, but did not address voting restrictions like property requirements, left African American women fighting their own battle for suffrage. With these restrictions in place, African American women were still silenced by those in power in the South, leaving their community without a voice or representation. It was not until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 that African American women were able to vote.