{"id":15384,"date":"2024-02-07T13:10:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T18:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/?p=15384"},"modified":"2024-02-07T13:25:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T18:25:05","slug":"15384","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/african-american-heritage\/15384\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Allen C. Bradley"},"content":{"rendered":"

REMEMBERING BRIDGEPORT PHYSICIAN <\/strong>ALLEN C. BRADLEY, 1875-1945<\/strong><\/p>\n

On February 1, 2024, I attended a program at the New Haven Museum celebrating Black History Month and the tenth anniversary of a book that I had contributed to, African American Connecticut Explored<\/em>.\u00a0 The book is a compilation and celebration of what the preface stated was, \u201cA book for a general audience that surveys the long arc of the African American experience in Connecticut.\u201d\u00a0 One of the panel speakers urged the audience to remember and recover the stories of our history.<\/p>\n

During the program my thoughts turned to the stories my parents told of Dr. Allen C. Bradley.\u00a0 The black Bridgeport physician who was their doctor. He was always spoken of fondly by my parents and elderly relatives who lived on Bridgeport\u2019s East Side during the Great Depression.\u00a0 For many years this dedicated doctor served the immigrant and black populations of the City of Bridgeport. He is all but forgotten now.\u00a0 I remember him because my parents remembered him and told me his story. \u00a0\u00a0I have a fondness for the stories of Bridgeport, the city of my birth.\u00a0 I have one cousin left who has vague memories of Dr. Bradley, making house calls.\u00a0 That would have been in the early 1940s before the doctor passed away.\u00a0 My cousin remembers a small man, with a big fur coat and large brimmed hat.\u00a0 Both my parents remembered Dr. Bradley making house calls to their homes. \u00a0Many of the immigrant families Dr. Bradley served spoke little or no English.\u00a0 Because many of these immigrants, including my grandparents, often had no money Dr. Bradley would try to prescribe home remedies whenever possible.\u00a0 One of the remedies my father remembered Doc Bradley prescribing was salt water soaks for rashes, and if it was summer, would advise parents to take that baby with the bad diaper rash to Pleasure Beach and soak up the fresh air, sun, and salt water and let the kids enjoy park.\u00a0 Vinegar and olive oil were prescribed for topical remedies.\u00a0 Cod Liver oil was a prophylactic during cold and flu season.\u00a0 My mother never lost her belief in the benefits of cod liver oil and would dose us with a daily tablespoon in the 1960s, much to my disgust.\u00a0 Of course, for my parents as children, there was always that dreaded castor oil that was good for whatever ailed you.\u00a0 My mother at least spared us that.<\/p>\n

My 98 year-old uncle Joe recently wrote down his childhood memories for the family which he titled, Once Upon a Time: A Life of Memories<\/em>, of growing up in Bridgeport.\u00a0 He included a memory of Dr. Bradley from his childhood in the late 1920s and 1930s.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t remember the doctor\u2019s name, but when I read what my uncle wrote I knew it was Dr. Bradley because of my parents\u2019 stories.\u00a0 My uncle was so thrilled when I said, \u201cUncle Joe, that was Dr. Bradley.\u201d\u00a0 In his book of memories, my uncle wrote:<\/p>\n

Now this story is about a doctor who took care of us in the neighborhood.\u00a0 He would come to the corner of Boston Post Road and Farmer Avenue and blow his horn.\u00a0 The kids would come running and, in the summer, he would give us candy, and in the winter, we would hook up our sleds to his bumper and he would pull us around the neighborhood.\u00a0 If we needed help, we would stand in front of the house and we would wave to him because we had no telephone.\u00a0 The first thing he would do was line us up in the house and look at our mouths.\u00a0 At that time, we all had measles and mumps.\u00a0 If somebody else had measles in the neighborhood, we would go to their house to catch the measles.\u00a0 He would check my father\u2019s heart and look at his face.\u00a0 If his face was red, he would assume he had high blood pressure.\u00a0 He would tell my father to take one leach a week.\u00a0 Everyone had a leach in a jar in their kitchen.\u00a0 When I worked in the drug store, I used to put the leeches in the bottles.\u00a0 Everyone had arthritis (Note: it was believed that sitting in the sun cured arthritis) so they would sit in the sun and on the walking trail, you would see people bathing in the sun.\u00a0 He (Dr. Bradley) would never ask for money, but my mother would give him what she had and a loaf of bread.\u00a0 By the way, the doctor was black.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now my uncle\u2019s written memory is through the eyes of a child, but my parents also remembered that Dr. Bradley never asked for money. \u00a0Their parents had nothing to give him anyway. But if you needed a doctor, Doc Bradley would come to your house. \u00a0Times were difficult.\u00a0 My father told me that they often went hungry.\u00a0\u00a0 My uncle\u2019s parents had twelve surviving children when they lost the family home during the Great Depression. It was a devastating blow. My uncle was a little boy and was so confused when he heard his mother say that they were losing the house. He asked his brother, \u201cWhere did a house go when it got lost?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Allen Christopher Bradley was born on November 29, 1876, in Beaufort, South Carolina. But perhaps the year was 1879, or as his tombstone states in Mountain Grove Cemetery, 1875.\u00a0 There are no records to be found of his early life or birth in Beaufort, South Carolina.\u00a0 Perhaps because he was born directly after Reconstruction ended it might be logical to assume he was the son of formerly enslaved parents.\u00a0 In 1903 he is listed in the New York Marriage Index on April 29, 1903, as marrying in Kings, NY, Miss Bertha Carroway, born in North Carolina.\u00a0 In 1904 Dr. Bradley is listed in the Bridgeport City Directory as practicing medicine and renting at 61 Elm Street.\u00a0 Dr. Bradley is listed in every subsequent Bridgeport City Directory as a practicing physician for the next forty years.<\/p>\n

\"\"I had always hoped to find a photograph of Dr. Bradley or even more people who remembered him. I haven\u2019t been successful. I guess it\u2019s too long ago.\u00a0 We have physical descriptions of him from official records, and of course, the memories of the large hat and fur coat he often wore when making house calls.\u00a0 In 1917, according to the mandated draft registration card completed by every male over 16 years old in the State of Connecticut before World War I, Dr. Bradley was living and practicing medicine at 55 Highland Avenue, his own home, where he lived until his death in 1945.\u00a0 His draft registration paperwork lists his age as 33, his height as 5\u20192\u201d and his weight at 134 lbs. In 1942, during the Second World War, when he again officially registered with the draft board for the State of Connecticut, his weight was down to 125 lbs.<\/p>\n

In the 1907 Bridgeport Business Directory<\/u> under the heading of Physicians and Surgeons, there were categories for doctors who were members of the Connecticut Medical Society, the Bridgeport Medical Association, and the Connecticut Homeopathic Society.\u00a0 There was also a listing for the Connecticut Electric & Medical Institute.\u00a0 Like many of the doctors listed, Dr. Bradley was not affiliated with any of these organizations.<\/p>\n

The 1910 census shows Dr. Bradley renting a house on Fulton Street, but sometime before the 1920 census, Doctor purchased a house at 55 Highland Avenue where he lived until his death. The 1920 census showed the Bradley\u2019s had a live in maid as well as a boarder.\u00a0 The couple never had children of their own but census records from 1920 and 1930 showed a niece and two nephews lived with the couple.<\/p>\n

By the 1940 census, Dr. and Mrs. Bradley owned their home at 55 Highland Avenue, which was valued at $6000.\u00a0 The doctor\u2019s income was $2000 per year and in 1939 he worked 52 weeks, 60 hours per week.\u00a0 The 1940 census also asked questions about education and of the head of household had attended school.\u00a0 Dr. Bradley responded yes.\u00a0 The census also asked what the highest grade completed was.\u00a0 Dr Bradley attended elementary school until the 5th<\/sup> grade.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bradley practiced medicine in Bridgeport for over 40 years.\u00a0 He was well respected and trusted.\u00a0 Like many doctors in the United States during the 19th<\/sup> century and early 20th<\/sup> century, his education probably consisted of an apprenticeship to an experienced doctor.\u00a0 In fact, many American doctors were not formally educated in colleges.\u00a0 During the 19th<\/sup> century before the Civil War formal medical education from well-known medical schools was a two year curriculum, with the second year being a duplicate of the first.\u00a0 It was not until after the Civil War that formal medical education became more common.\u00a0 After the Civil War, medical societies began to form and licensing requirements for medical professionals became more prevalent.\u00a0 Still early in the 20th<\/sup> century many practicing American doctors achieved their profession the old way, through apprenticeship and practice.\u00a0 With the lack of available records, we can assume this was the case for Dr. Bradley.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bradley probably came to Bridgeport in 1904, the earliest listing for his practice in the city directory.\u00a0 He had married in 1903 in New York, and he practiced medicine in Bridgeport for over forty years until his death in 1945. The newspapers of the time were a social and political lifeline for Americans everywhere.\u00a0 Dr. and Mrs. Bradley\u2019s social engagements were often reported in the local Bridgeport papers when they attended functions or when they hosted out of state guests in their home.\u00a0 Dr. Bradley was active in Bridgeport politics.\u00a0 In 1912 he was the President of Bridgeport\u2019s Colored Republican Club and the Bridgeport Evening Farmer<\/em> reported that the city\u2019s black Republicans\u2019 unanimously endorsed Taft for president.\u00a0 Apparently, Theodore Roosevelt, running for president under the Bull Moose ticket, had spoken what the group believed were distasteful comments about \u201crace suicide\u201d also reported in the Farmer<\/em>.\u00a0 The title of the Farmer\u2019s article reads, \u201cNegros Denounce Moose<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Bradley had some of his cases reported in the Bridgeport papers. \u00a0Often when he reported abuse and neglect to the authorities.\u00a0 In one instance he reported himself when he struck a small child with his car on Barnum Avenue.\u00a0 The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer<\/em>, Aug 25, 1913, reported that as soon as the child was pulled from beneath the car the child ran away seemingly unhurt.\u00a0 Dr. Bradley immediately reported the incident.<\/p>\n

One of Dr. Bradley\u2019s cases became a sensational tragedy in Bridgeport that received coverage for months.\u00a0 In mid-January 1910 he was called to the home of a 17 year-old girl by her parents.\u00a0 He was the family doctor and upon examining her, immediately reported the case to the authorities and had her moved to the hospital.\u00a0 The girl was in serious condition from an illegal abortion performed by a well-known white doctor in the city. Both the doctor and a young black coachman were arrested.\u00a0 The young coachman frequently chauffeured doctors on various calls.\u00a0 The young man admitted to police he was responsible for the girl\u2019s condition.\u00a0 Several news articles alluded to the family\u2019s poverty.\u00a0 The girl lingered for weeks at Bridgeport hospital.\u00a0 Finally, in May she asked to go home to die and passed away on May 17, 1910, from the effects of the botched surgery. \u00a0Lawyers for the defendants and the prosecutor claimed that the police did not get statements from the girl that were admissible in court.\u00a0 After months of delays and legal maneuvering, on August 18, 1910, the Evening Farmer<\/em> reported the case against the doctor and coachman was nolled.<\/p>\n

On June 28, 1927, the Bridgeport Telegram<\/em> reported that with the approach of the 4th<\/sup> of July injuries from guns were on the rise and five children were injured.\u00a0 Dr. Bradley was called to attend to one of the injured children, a child who was shot in the hand by a playmate.<\/p>\n

There is sometimes power and permanency in words and I wanted to write down these stories that my parents told me about Dr. Bradley. This man was a beloved physician who deserves to be remembered and honored.\u00a0 A man who spent his life in Bridgeport, Connecticut dedicated to serving his patients no matter who they were: black, white, immigrants, poor. This article is dedicated to his memory.\u00a0 He passed in 1945 and that\u2019s so long ago for many of us. The generation of the Great Depression and the Second World War is melting away into the past beyond living memory.\u00a0 Words in stories told, and words written down have the power to keep history alive.\u00a0 Dr. Bradley was a quiet Bridgeport hero.\u00a0 He did so much good, for so many people in Bridgeport, for so many years.\u00a0 He deserves to have his story written down and remembered.\u00a0 This article is written to honor this dedicated Bridgeport physician whose life touched so many lives for the better, including my parents, grandparents, and family.\u00a0 May the memory of this good man transcend the boundaries of time.<\/p>\n

BIBLIOGRAPHY<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bollett, Alfred, Jay, Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs<\/em>, Galen Press, 2002<\/p>\n

Bridgeport City Directories
\nBridgeport Telegram<\/em>
\nBridgeport Evening Farmer<\/em>
\nBridgeport Times<\/em>
\nMencel, Joseph, Once Upon a Time: A Life of Memories<\/em>
\nState of Connecticut Draft Registration Records
\nUS Census Records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REMEMBERING BRIDGEPORT PHYSICIAN ALLEN C. BRADLEY, 1875-1945 On February 1, 2024, I attended a program at the New Haven Museum celebrating Black History Month and the tenth anniversary of a book that I had contributed to, African American Connecticut Explored.\u00a0 The book is a compilation and celebration of what the preface stated was, \u201cA book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":15386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,222],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-american-heritage","category-special-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15390,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions\/15390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}