Matilda Evans: Overcoming the Insurmountable Odds to Change the Face of Medicine

Who would have ever thought that a little African American girl growing up on a cotton

plantation would become one of the most significant leaders in the medical field in South

Carolina? In the segregated South of the late 1800s, the Evans family was just like any other

African American family. Both of Matilda Evans’ parents were freed slaves, so when they had

her on May 13, 1872, she had a firsthand look on segregation. Both of her parents had no

education whatsoever so when she turned of age, she started helping her parents pick cotton,

although she and her parents dreamt of better for herself. Her parents, Anderson Evans and

Harriett Corley, often told young Matilda that “education was the way out of the fields.” Matilda

Evans, the eldest of three children, was born and grew up in Aiken County, South Carolina.

White separatism and racial violence were normal day to day occurrences in the “turbulent time

of post-Reconstruction in the South.” Evans attended the Schofield Normal and Industrial School

in Aiken and, in addition to her studies, she worked in the gardens and cotton fields there.

Martha Schofield, a Quaker from Philadelphia and founder of the Schofield Normal and

Industrial School in Aiken, became Evans’s mentor and encouraged her to expand her education

by attending the Oberlin College in Ohio after graduating from the Schofield School. Evans

decided to leave the Oberlin College three months before graduation to accept a one-year

teaching position in Augusta, Georgia at Haines Institute. Matilda Evans grew an interest in

studying medicine after becoming a medical missionary in Africa. She informed Martha

Schofield that she was interested in getting her medical license and Schofield encouraged her to
attend the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. Evans caught the eye of a white

philanthropist named Alfred Jones. Jones gave Matilda Evans financial assistance to enroll in the

Women’s Medical College. After receiving her medical license in 1897, Evans set up practice in

Columbia, South Carolina. However, she soon dropped her practice to open the Taylor Lane

Hospital and Training School for Nurses, which burnt down. Matilda Evans continued to do

fantastic work for African Americans all over South Carolina, and some even came from as far

away as Georgia and North Carolina to seek her help. She never stopped or let down until she

died on November 17, 1935. Matilda Evans prevailed through many tragedies and paved the way

for African American females in medicine by founding the Negro Health Association of South

Carolina, working with Columbia Public School Authorities to provide free healthcare to

poverty-stricken children, and becoming the first African American female licensed to practice

medicine in South Carolina.

Matilda Evans was adequate in helping African American children get better healthcare, and

she didn’t do it for the fame or attention, she did it because she genuinely wanted to help her

community and she truly believed in what she was doing with all of her heart. Matilda Evans

cared so much that she ended up working with the Columbia Public School Authorities to

provide free healthcare to poverty-stricken children. In the book “Remarkable South Carolina

Women,” it states that Evans personally paid for many physical examinations and immunizations

for black students.” After Matilda Evans completed these vaccinations, she found countless

sicknesses and diseases among the children and, because of this, the school district agreed with

Evans to set up a permanent examination program. This meant that now, black students would be

able to have some of the same opportunities as the privileged white kids. One other way that
Matilda Evans helped African American children is she called upon her black community to help

her set up a free clinic for black children and expectant mothers. According to the book

“Remarkable South Carolina Women,” “Evans began calling upon black religious leaders, black

businessmen, and black club women to unite their efforts behind a free clinic for African

American children and expectant mothers.” Evans continued to rally up the black community to

get support for the clinic. She held meetings in her home to organize the community into groups

to go out to different churches to get additional support. Because there were so many people

trying to make this clinic work, the State Board of Health eventually had to acknowledge the

community’s needs. “They promised vaccines, and the Richland County legislative delegation

made an appropriation of five hundred dollars to establish a temporary free clinic housed in the

basement of the Zion Baptist Church” (Remarkable South Carolina Women). Around the time

this free clinic was in the process of being organized, the country plunged into the Great

Depression. Even still, Matilda Evans never surrendered her work. In July of 1930, the free clinic

opened with more people than expected lining up to receive their free vaccinations. In just the

first day of the clinic being open, it was reported by The Palmetto Leader that seven hundred

people received free vaccinations. “By September the newspaper stated that 3,187 had been

examined and 1,108 vaccinated and that “a steady stream of hundreds continues each day to

come” (Remarkable South Carolina Women). Because so many black children and expectant

mothers kept rushing in to get the healthcare they had been waiting for, the clinic became a

permanent operation, and the funds necessary to maintain the clinic were still being continued.

However, these funds stopped when Evans passed away in 1935. This is one of the many
exceptional reasons how Matilda Evans helped black children get the healthcare that they

needed.

Matilda Evans is known for a lot of things, the most well-known one to the general public is

that she was the first African American female licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina.

Although this is probably the essential part about Evans’s career, there is a lot more to her story

than just this. Matilda Evans founded the Negro Health Association of South Carolina. The

Negro Health Association of South Carolina convinced people that using the right sanitary habits

could improve their health. This message was so important to spread because it saved lives. If

Evans wouldn’t have started this association, we wouldn’t have already figured so much out

about health and some diseases wouldn’t yet have a cure and if these diseases don’t have

remedies, massive amounts of people die. Without Matilda Evans starting the Negro Health

Association of South Carolina, this would, unfortunately, most likely be our reality today."She

repeatedly argued that the sick Negro not only endangered his or her white employer but also the

larger community as well” (Remarkable South Carolina Women). This means that Evans was

arguing about how, without decent sanitation, sickness would spread and eventually the whole

community would get sick. No one wanted this to happen because, for most of the contagious

illnesses in the late 1800s early 1900s, there was no cure and usually death was the only option

out. This is because no one, at the time, knew about the spreading of germs, how to prevent the

spreading of germs, and the cures to prevent when germs get spread. This is because no one even

knew germs were a thing! But, thanks to Matilda Evans, we now know more about germs and

safe sanitation habits like washing your hands, maintaining good hygiene, and cleaner drinking

and bathing water. This sounds like common sense to us today, but we have to remember that
back when Evans was starting to practice, it was a completely different world. Matilda Evans

saw this, like many others, but decided to step out of most people's comfort zones and make a

difference. This is why South Carolina today, with death rates dropping and sanitation laws

skyrocketing, is a safer and more cleanly environment.

If one thing has to be said about the great Matilda Evans, it would most importantly be that

she was the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina. This

would be the first thing that is said about her if you look her up on Google or any other website

because it is the most important thing about her career, and for a good reason too. If Evans were

white instead of black or male instead of female, she most likely would not have been so

remembered. This is because South Carolina’s society as a whole thought that the job of a doctor

was for men, and that every position except for working in the cotton fields was for whites, even

though slavery had already been abolished just a few years prior. Therefore, whenever Matilda

Evans exceeded in her practice as an African American female, society was a little shocked.

Most were either jealous or envious of Evans, and some were just flat out not happy with her

because they believed it wasn’t right, but all of this jealousy and hatred towards her only made

her work harder. All of this talk about Matilda Evans from society goes to show how amazing it

was that she was able to still be successful in her practice and how great it was of her to turn the

other cheek and let it make her stronger and better as a person. Even though most of the white

citizens of Columbia, South Carolina did not like the thought of blacks practicing medicine in

their town, Matilda Evans still did not hate them. In fact, she liked them. According to The

Corporeal and Ocular Veil, “She worked closely with leaders in both the white and black

communities.” This proves that she did not hate the whites for discriminating against her and her
race, but she helped them. “Concomitantly, through lectures and her own example, Evans helped

to inspire and strengthen black resolve to force white citizens of the Palmetto State to treat

African Americans as vital members of the body politic, their physical bodies deserving of care

and respect” (The Corporeal and Ocular Veil). This is important because it shows that Evans

demanded the right treatment and sanitation for blacks as there was for whites. African

Americans came from all over the state to receive the treatment from Evans. Some even came

from other states like North Carolina and Georgia. She still didn’t hate the whites, though. She

treated them! Some affluent whites in the city of Columbia wanted treatment from a female

because they were not comfortable with a male doctor, so they turned to Dr. Matilda Evans.

These were the same whites that discriminated against Evans when she first started practicing,

but after they received treatment from her, they changed their minds. “Many wealthy white

women also sought her care, perhaps because they preferred a female doctor or appreciated her

discretion in caring for their medical problems away from the members of their own social class.

Their patronage supplied the majority of Dr. Evans’s income and allowed her to treat black

women and children free of charge” (Remarkable South Carolina Women). This quote proves

that Matilda Evans treated anyone no matter their race or social class, and respected the wealthy

white women who discriminated against her by not telling anyone that they were receiving

treatment from her because they did not want it to get out to their friends that they were receiving

treatment from an African American. In this era of racial inequality, Dr. Matilda Evans rose

above the adversity and forged the way for the younger black females in medicine.

Matilda Evans prevailed through many tragedies and paved the way for African American

females in medicine by founding the Negro Health Association of South Carolina, working with
Columbia Public School Authorities to provide free healthcare for poverty-stricken children, and

becoming the first African American female physician licensed to practice medicine in South

Carolina. Matilda Evans is significant because she made it possible for African American

females to practice medicine in a world that did not appreciate the black race. This was so

important during the early 1900s when racial segregation was massive in the South because

black females that were interested in the medical field now had a more significant opportunity to

do what they loved and dreamt of. Matilda Evans is still so crucial years later, not only because

she earned her medical license, but because we now have better sanitation laws today. Even

through many setbacks, Matilda Evans persevered and changed the face of medicine as we know

it today.