Dr. Andrew Best, Dr. Leo Jenkins, and Robert Cox present the Andrew A. Best Trophy for Excellence in Health Education to Jessie Gray Mills, April 26, 1961.
Dr. Andrew A. Best, an African-American physician who had earlier pioneered, with the support of a number of local white physicians, the desegregation of Pitt Memorial Hospital (later Vidant) in Greenville, N.C., was also a leading figure in the desegregation of East Carolina College in the early 1960s. Best had no official position at ECC, but he did have a persuasive voice in administrative matters as a result of his “cordial relationship” with the new president of the college, Dr. Leo W. Jenkins.
Following the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring “separate but equal” facilities in public education unconstitutional, it was a foregone conclusion that school districts throughout the nation would have to, if segregated, as most in the South were, desegregate. With Dr. Best’s encouragement, President Jenkins embarked on a course of gradual desegregation intent upon complying with the Supreme Court’s decision and yet at the same time, not taking steps that would result in further complications for the success of the undertaking.
It was Dr. Best who identified Laura Marie Leary (married name, Elliott) as the local high school student who could meet the academic challenges of East Carolina successfully, and thereby lead in the desegregation of the school. With Best’s encouragement, Jenkins agreed to proceed on that course. In 1962, Leary made history as the first African American undergraduate student at East Carolina. Four years later, much as Best had predicted, Leary graduated with a degree in business.
Dr. Best knew Laura Marie Leary through his work in area black schools in providing health education and especially sex education for young people. In large part, Dr. Best’s program was meant to help curb teenage pregnancies among black youth. Dr. Best had been active in this capacity in Pitt County schools since the mid-1950s and so knew well the African American youth of the county. In addition to sex education, Dr. Best sought to educate black students about best practices for maintaining good health, including active involvement in physical education. In this, he worked closely at the state level with the recently founded Governor’s Youth Fitness Commission led by Robert Cox, a former football star at UNC.
In the picture, dated April 29, 1961, Dr. Best stands next to Dr. Leo W. Jenkins as Cox, executive director of the Youth Fitness Commission, presents a local student, Jessie Gray Mills, a junior at the Roberson Union school in Winterville, with the Andrew A. Best Trophy for Excellence in Health Education, honoring her outstanding performance in a twenty-five week personal hygiene course that Best taught. While Mills did not later attend East Carolina, it was through his service to the young people of the county that Best came to know her and Laura Marie Leary, and through his close ties with Dr. Jenkins that he was able to contribute decisively to the successful desegregation of the campus.
Dr. Best later served, it should be noted, as the first African American member of the East Carolina Board of Trustees. He also served on the Board of Governors for the UNC System. Twice, he was the recipient of the Long Leaf Pine Award, North Carolina’s highest service award. In his work as a local physician, in his educational endeavors in the schools, and in helping to guide the desegregation of East Carolina as well as the local hospital and community businesses, Dr. Best exemplified, with distinction, East Carolina’s ethic of service to the greater interests of humanity.
Sources
- Armstrong, R. D. “News About Negroes.” Rocky Mount Telegram. May 15, 1960. P. 7.
- “At Health Achievement Program.” Daily Reflector. April 29, 1960. P. 1.
- “Bob Cox, 1940s Era End & Kicker, Dies at Age 90.” Carolina Lettermen. http://www.unclettermen.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3370&ATCLID=211196496
- “Cox Is Speaker At PTA Meeting.” Rocky Mount Telegram. May 10, 1960. P. 9.
- “Desegregating East Carolina University.” Oral History Interview with Andrew Best, April 19, 1997. Interview R-0011. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/R-0011/menu.html
- “Scholarship Winner.” April 29, 1961. Digital Collections # 741.26.d.91. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/5328
- Sullivan, Leonard. “Greenville Negro Doctor Expanding Crusade for Race Pride and Morals.” Rocky Mount Telegram. July 31, 1960. P. 7.
Citation Information
Title: Dr. Leo W. Jenkins and Dr. Andrew A. Best, 1961
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 3/3/2020