Hubert A. Eaton

Hubert Arthur Eaton (1916–1991) was an American physician, civil-rights activist, and tennis player in North Carolina.[1]

Hubert A. Eaton
BornDecember 2, 1916
DiedSeptember 4, 1991
CitizenshipUnited States
OccupationPhysician, Civil rights activist

The son of a Winston-Salem physician, Eaton attended Johnson C. Smith University on a tennis scholarship after winning the 1933 national junior championship of the American Tennis Association (ATA), the African-American counterpart to the United States Tennis Association. He would go on to win the ATA national doubles championship, and served as the coach and mentor of Althea Gibson, the first black Wimbledon champion.[2][3]

He attended the University of Michigan Medical School and then established a practice in Wilmington, NC, where he was a distinguished physician and noted civil rights activist, fighting for access to recreational facilities, the desegregation of public schools, and, most notably, the fight for access to public hospital facilities for black physicians.[2]

In 1956, Eaton was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against a public hospital that, by policy, only granted hospital privileges to white physicians.[4] After he prevailed in court, Eaton remarked "if you don't know what to do, go to court; that is the only way we know of in Wilmington, North Carolina."[5] Eaton later work to desegregate patient wards, stating that the black community "[did not] want a partially integrated hospital where everything will be integrated except patients".[6]

In 1964, Eaton was charged with murder. A trial was held, but the judge ordered a directed verdict of not guilty by reason of insufficient evidence before the jury began deliberations.[7]

References
  1. Ben Steelman (3 April 2009), "Who is Hubert A. Eaton?", Star-News
  2. Ward, Thomas J (2003). Black physicians in the Jim Crow South. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1557287562. OCLC 52465026.
  3. Vertinsky, Patricia; Captain, Gwendolyn (1998). "More Myth than History: American Culture and Representations of the Black Female's Athletic Ability". Journal of Sport History. 25 (3): 541. JSTOR 43609538.
  4. "Court to rule on applications". Statesville Record and Landmark. March 27, 1956. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Beardsley, E. H. (1986). "Good-Bye to Jim Crow: The Desegregation of Southern Hospitals, 1945-70". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 60 (3): 367–86. JSTOR 44442287. PMID 3530358.
  6. Beardsley, Edward H. (1996). "Desegregating Southern Mediane 1945-1970". International Social Science Review. 71 (1/2): 45. JSTOR 41882194.
  7. Jarvey, T. C. (November 28, 1964). "Wilmington Dentist cleared of murder". The Pittsburgh Courier. p. 1.


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