Black History Month: Dr. George Washington Buckner was a doctor, diplomat and educator

Editor's note: The Courier & Press and The Gleaner are marking Black History Month with a collection of stories about people, places and events from local Black history.

EVANSVILLE − Dr. George Washington Buckner, born near Greensburg in central Kentucky sometime around 1854, was an educator, a medical doctor, and the first African American posted to a diplomatic position with a foreign country.

Buckner was born a slave on the estate of Stanton Buckner. As a child, he taught himself letters from a spelling book before ever attending school. After the Civil War, he went to a school run by the Freedmen’s Association, and at age 16 was teaching Black children.

He later attended public school in Indianapolis and then college in Terre Haute. He taught in Vincennes, where he married his first wife, Estella, in 1879; in Washington, Indiana; and in other small Hoosier towns.

When a child, Bucker had been presented to Stanton Buckner’s son Dickie to be his slave and companion. The death of Dickie from a lingering illness had a great impact on him, as did the death of his mother. These experiences, and Estella’s death from tuberculosis, contributed to his desire to study medicine.

He graduated from the Eclectic Medical College in Indianapolis in 1890 and began a practice in Evansville soon thereafter.

His popularity in Evansville and recommendations from local politicians resulted in him being appointed the U.S. Minister and Counsel General to Liberia in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. He worked there for almost two years before leaving Africa due to recurring illness.

After returning to continue in his medical practice in Evansville, Buckner fought against the buying of votes from the African American community. In his time here, he also helped establish the Cherry Street YMCA for African Americans and was the principal of the Independence Colored School on Wabash Avenue.

Records of Buckner’s dates of birth and death vary. His birth is listed as Dec. 1, 1852 in the Federal Writers’ Project Slave Narrative Project (compiled before his death); he is listed as living from 1855 to 1943 by the Evansville Museum and The Kentucky Encyclopedia. His gravestone at Oak Hill Cemetery reads 1854-1941.

Sources for this information include The Evansville Museum of Arts and Science blog Diplomatically Speaking; the Library of  Congress' Federal Writers’ Project from Interviews by Lauana Creel; and The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by John E. Kleber.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Who was Dr. George Washington Buckner?