Dr. John Morgan
By City of Yonkers Historian Mary Hoar
Born and raised in Nevis, John Alexander Morgan came to New York in 1892 to attend Union Theological Seminary. After completing his studies, he enrolled at New York’s Flower Hospital and Homeopathic College and earned his medical degree in 1900, one of four Black doctors licensed in NYS. He practiced first in Harlem, the neighborhood’s second black doctor. He moved to Yonkers in 1904; not only was he the Terrace City’s first Black doctor, he became one of Yonkers’ most respected physicians, a leader in Homeopathic Medicine.
Shortly after the Morgan family moved here, fifty prominent residents surprised them, both welcoming them and pledging support to anyone needing Dr. Morgan’s services. After several speeches of appreciation, caterer extraordinaire Francis Moultrie served his signature ice cream and delicious cake! The Morgans appreciated the sincere welcome and kindness their new community showed.
Dr. Morgan quickly became involved in Yonkers, regularly speaking at events, conferences, churches, athletic clubs, women’s clubs and youth groups. Although his main concern was improvement of Black citizens’ lives, he also spoke of the value of church membership and community service. He lectured on health issues, especially tuberculosis; he wanted Yonkers to know how to recognize it, treat it, and avoid it.
He addressed organized labor about helping the unemployed or needy. If an eloquent, passionate speaker was needed… he was there for Yonkers.
His son Adolphus tragically died in 1915, drowning in the Hudson near Habirshaw Wire’s Glenwood plant. As the steamer Washington Irving sailed down the Hudson, Adolphus was swimming with two friends. A huge swell from the ship washed over the young man, submerging him. Yonkers Yacht Club members dove in to search for Adolphus, as did his dad. Yonkers Police and Life Saving Corps combed the area for hours. His body was found that evening by volunteers using grappling hooks. Fourteen-year-old Adolphus was a School Six Class of 1915 graduate.
After this family tragedy, Dr. Morgan lobbied Yonkers government to purchase patrol boats and build bathhouses at swimming spots on the river.
Concerned about lynchings and riots in St. Louis, New York City, Ossining, and elsewhere in 1917, Messiah Baptist and the AME Zion churches formed a Civic League to assist new Black Yonkers residents; they elected Dr. Morgan president. His meetings focused on the causes and remedies for the unrest, and how to improve their lives.
Dr. Morgan advocated to prevent the movie “Birth of a Nation,” from being rerun in Yonkers. The movie promulgated erroneous history told Director DW Griffith by his Confederate soldier father, and Griffith wanted his movie accepted as truth. Morgan led a 1918 delegation asking Mayor Wallin to prohibit showing this movie in Yonkers; a few weeks later it ran three days at Proctor’s and one day at The Orpheum.
He joined several local organizations, rising to prominence in the Knights of Pythias, and served as its NY State Grand Medical Registrar; he was an active member of the James Farrell Lodge, Prince Hall Masons. He was official advisor to the Alpha Physical Culture Club, the first independent athletic club organized by Blacks in New York State.
An active Socialist, he was their party candidate for Coroner several times; he ran for the NYS Assembly in 1930. An Advisory Board Member of the Yonkers Council for Protection of Foreign Born Workers, he opposed anti-alien legislation and promoted naturalization for immigrants.
In the 1920s, he was an active member of the Conference for Progressive Political Action. Elected Financial Secretary of the Yonkers Progressives August 1924, he addressed its 1925 meeting featuring keynote speaker Eugene Debs, the 1924 Socialist Candidate for President; Debs spoke about the need to rebuild and reorganize our country.
The1925 NYS AME Zion Church Annual Conference was held at Yonkers’ new AME Zion Church, designed by noted architect Lansing Quick. Dr. Morgan, speaking on behalf of Yonkers’ professional men, welcomed 300 delegates and visitors from throughout NYS to the five-day event-filled symposium.
The good doctor donated prizes for the annual Schoolboys Races and was involved in the Messiah Baptist Church War Relief Circle for Black soldiers. He raised money for all three Yonkers’ hospitals and helped organize a City-Wide Committee to celebrate appointment of Thomas Brooks, YPD’s first Black officer. During the Depression, he worked on the Colored Citizens Unemployment Relief Committee. One of its first events was the 1931 performance by Hemsley Winfield’s “The Bronze Ballet Plastique” at Saunders High School, advertised as “the first Negro dance recital in America.” (Winfield attended School 13 and Yonkers High School.)
A faithful member of the Sunday Men’s Club, he served many years as its Vice President. A men’s intellectual discussion group, the club’s purpose, according to its incorporation papers, was uplifting “the condition of the Negro race,” bringing “members together on Sundays for religious and moral instruction and discussion to inculcate sound ideas of religion and morality.” They presented literary discussions, speakers on many topics and cultural programs, with topics focused on the life of Black Americans.
An active participant in area medical associations, he continuously upgraded his skills by attending medical conferences and clinics, especially the NY Homeopathic Medical College’s demonstrations of the latest laboratory techniques, methods and equipment. He put them to good use successfully treating Dog Catcher Edward Smith, bitten by a rabid dog, using the Pasteur treatment to prevent hydrophobia. The same year, Smith survived a second rabid dog bite; although he went into convulsions, it wasn’t fatal. The original series of treatments had given Smith the ability to fight the fatal disease a second time.
John Morgan, avid Socialist, respected physician, devoted family man, and leading Yonkers citizen for 27 years, passed away at home August 13th1931, survived by his wife Mary and three daughters.
The funeral cortege, with six honorary pall bearers (Arthur Giddings, Monrow Foy, Hilary Harris, John Jackson, Toler Brooks, Harry Carter) walking beside the hearse, made its way to the church. Members of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Friendly Society, Lincoln Lodge #17, Knights of Phythias, Order of Druids Lodge, Friendly Society, and doctors from Westchester County and New York City medical societies brought up the rear of the cortege. Judge Gerald Nolan and Corporation Council Harry Laragh officially represented the City of Yonkers.
His funeral, held at Memorial AME Zion Church, was punctuated by the music and hymns Dr. Morgan so loved. An estimated 1,000 people overflowed the Irving Place church onto the sidewalk and street, which was closed for the funeral.
The Yonkers Socialist Party unanimously adopted a resolution, here in part: “Resolved, that we have learned with heartfelt grief the sad tidings of the death of Dr. John A. Morgan… many years one of the most earnest, ardent and intelligent strugglers for the emancipation of humanity… His splendid personality and broad cultural gifts endeared him to a wide circle of appreciating friends. For us, he lives on… not as a mere memory, but as a vital factor in our thoughts and activities.”
In 1956, daughter Mae Morgan Robinson donated a beautiful baptismal font at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in memory of her father. The dedication ceremony incorporated baptism of three babies; no doubt Dr. Morgan smiled his blessings down on them.
