Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section 061/Dr. Ida Mae Hiram

Overview:

Dr. Ida Mae Hiram was an African American female dentist who grew up and worked in Athens, Georgia in the early 1900’s.

Biography:

Early Life:

Dr. Hiram was born and raised in Athens, Georgia. When she was just six years old, her mother passed away. In response, her father “did his best to be both mother and father to [her]" and “saw that [she] got what education was possible in the schools [in Athens].” She attended Knox Institute in her hometown, and when she finished her schooling there she “had gone as far in [her] education as would be possible in [Athens]." She then transferred to the High and Industrial School, which gave her the opportunity for higher education as an African American in the South, something not so common at the time. Before going on to attend college and further her career, Dr. Hiram got married and gave birth to her daughter.

Education:

Dr. Hiram had never imagined becoming a dentist, in fact she had always wanted to be a teacher. However, after she married a dentist, she decided she wanted to assist him. She graduated from Meharry College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1910 after attending four years and taking an additional dental course. She then went on to pass the State Board Dental Examinations and joined her husband at his practice. Unfortunately, due to financial troubles, her husband had to leave his practice and open up another somewhere else in the country. Dr. Hiram took over her husband’s practice herself and saw him over holidays and such. She described their visits as, “just like vacations." At the time, Dr. Hiram “[was] said to be the only Negro woman practicing dentistry in the State." She prided herself in her work and was very knowledgeable in her field. She warned against the negative, long-lasting effects of premature tooth extractions and gushed over injured jaws that she had fixed. Dr. Hiram also described the challenges that arose for her and in her practice specifically. She did not open her practice before 10:00 am most days, because most of her employees, “[worked] for white people" and could not come in before then. She said that times were hard, but she continued to work through it and was always quite busy. Her daughter helped her around the office as well. Dr. Hiram believed herself to have achieved “fair success” in her career.

Family History:

From the little that Dr. Hiram knew about her family; her grandfather was from Africa. When he was brought to The United States, he did not know any English. He was a slave who worked on a plantation. When white men would approach him to do any sort of business, he would run away into the woods out of fear. Her great, great grandmother was from India, making Dr. Hiram of African-Indian heritage. Her father was granted his freedom from slavery at a young age and was “bonded out." He then settled down with his sisters in the South after taking them back from their owners. Dr. Hiram wishes that her family kept a more in-depth record of their family history. However, she recognizes that it was not a priority during that time. It was out of the ordinary for people of her ancestor’s status to have an education or care about such seemingly trivial things, especially because of their struggle with poverty.

Social, Political, & Historical Context:

Women's Suffrage in the 1930's-1940's:

Before the Great Depression, it was uncommon and even looked down upon for women to have a spot in the workplace, however, “Between 1880 and 1910, the number of women employed in the United States increased from 2.6 million to 7.8 million." This may be viewed as a win, and it was, but, “Although women began to be employed in business and industry, the majority of better paying positions continued to go to men.” Most women worked in factories, offices, or held jobs as domestic servants to help bring in revenue and support their families. This caused uneasy turbulence in many family units as traditional gender roles were thrown off balance. Men were not used to women having a place in the workforce and thus began to feel inferior. In fact, the perfect 1930’s woman was compared to Snow White, because “she’s not a revolutionary character.” And she was “not pushing for social change.”

Race Relations in America During the Great Depression:

Racial equality was still nowhere near achieved in the 1930’s in America, and then the Great Depression hit, and about fifty-percent of African Americans were unemployed by 1932. This was likely due to the fact that spanning the years 1865-1965, African Americans had “virtually no citizenship rights. The Great Depression had specifically adverse effects for the African American community, because during this time “Racial violence again became more common, especially in the South.” This time period felt like a step back for a group of people who’d already fought to overcome so much.

Education Inequality in the South and for African Americans:

Likely due to the status of race relations in the United States in the early 1900’s, African Americans were not granted the right to equal education opportunities, and education in the South in general was already lesser than, “In the twenty years since 1865…southern higher education had suffered severe neglect, leaving the region's colleges inferior to northern schools in both ‘discipline and range.’" This already put all students in the South at an educational disadvantage in addition to the fact that, “urban students, particularly those who are African American, face a series of structural and institutional barriers that impede their pathways to success.” A possible reason for these blockades, “is that they are coming from a ‘culture of poverty.’" This phenomenon was a stereotype and disappointing truth for most of the African American community at the time. Because of past slavery and the African American unemployment rate, it proved incredibly difficult for African American families to crawl their way out of generational poverty enough to support their families or pay for a higher quality education.

Works Cited:

Byrd, Michael and Clayton, Linda. “Race, Medicine, And Health Care In The United States: A Historical Survey.” Journal of the National Medical Association 93, no. 3 (March 2001): 115-345. Accessed October 14, 2020. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2593958/pdf/jnma00341-0013.pdf .

Folder 218: McCune and Hall (interviewers): [The Woman Dentist], in the Federal Writers' Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/03709/id/822/rec/1

Ladson-Billings, Gloria. “‘Makes Me Wanna Holler’: Refuting the ‘Culture of Poverty’ Discourse in Urban Schooling.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 673, no. 1 (September 2017): 80–90. Accessed October 14, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217718793.

Mohr, Clarence. "Minds of the New South: Higher Education in Black and White, 1880-1915(1)." Southern Quarterly 46, no. 4 (Summer, 2009): 8-34,185. Accessed October 13, 2020. http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/docview/222199200?accountid=14244.

“Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s.” Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress. Accessed October 12, 2020. https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/race-relations-in-1930s-and-1940s/.

"Snow White: The Ideal 1930s Woman | American Experience | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. n.d. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/snow-white-ideal-1930s-woman/.

“Women's Suffrage in the Progressive Era.” Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress. Accessed October 12, 2020. https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929/womens-suffrage-in-progressive-era/.