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Overview
1871-1907 Dr. Atwell Theodore Braxton moved to Columbia, TN in 1896, at age 25, to practice medicine. Establishing a medical practice in the early years was exceedingly difficult because of his youth and racial identity. Dr. Braxton climbed over the obstacles and pushed aside impediments; he had no horse, so he made his professional calls and visits on foot; with determination and hard work, his patients increased, which enabled him to open an office. Soon he had more patients than he could manage and earned a reputation as a competent physician. White physicians occasionally called on him for assistance when performing difficult and delicate operations. Dr. Braxton served as a member of the City Board of Health and president of the Colored State Medical Association. Dr. Braxton was an active member of the Maury County Republican Party and the president of the Hughes-Roosevelt Republican Club. When speaking to the Executive Committee in 1900, he attacked the Democrats for creating the Dortch Law. The Dortch Law provided for the implementation of a secret ballot which permitted voters to obtain assistance in marking their ballots if they had voted in 1857. It disfranchised Black illiterate voters, while initially protecting older white illiterates. In 1901, Braxton started The Index, an African America quarterly newspaper, where he was the editor and business manager. By 1906, he owned a valuable home on East 7th Street, an office and co-owned the People’s Drug Store on South Main Street. Dr. Braxton, the son of slave parents, attended the Tuskegee Normal Industrial Institute in Alabama. He received medical training at colleges in North Carolina, and New York; the Physicians and Surgeons College, Massachusetts and Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN. Dr. Braxton died in 1907 from lung disease, at age 36.
