Keepers of the Hippocratic Oath Mural
There's a new mural in town! On June 2, 2017, "Keepers of the Hippocratic Oath" honoring three of Gadsden County's most prominent African-American doctors in the last 100 years was unveiled on the side of a Gadsden County office building on South Adams street.
On the left is Dr. William S. Stevens, Quincy's first African-American doctor and druggist (1906) who built the first hospital serving the black population of the city. He also served as superintendent of Quincy city schools and a high school was named in his honor. In the center is Dr. Jessie Furlow,a pillar of the Gadsden County community who spent years treating indigent patients, sometimes at little or no cost. Patients who didn't have money would pay her in fish or chicken or yard work. Considered by many an "angel" she cared for others even when she herself was quite ill. A Medical Center in Quincy is named for her. On the right is Dr. LaSalle Laffal, surgeon, oncologist and medical educator, who grew up in Quincy, graduated from high school at age 15, and earned a medical degree from Howard University in 1952. Leffall was the first black president of both the American Cancer Society (1978) and the American College of Surgeons (1995). He is currently the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine. The mural was designed and painted by Charlie Johnston, who painted the 100 ft tall peanut silos in Colquitt, GA, the largest mural in the United States (27,000 sq. ft.).