The First African American Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, is the subject of a documentary to be shown by First Tuesday SMTX, a monthly community film event, March 4 at the Price Center in San Marcos.
Directed by Candace Bellamy, the 50-minute documentary, called “Healer,” traces Elders’ beginnings as a sharecropper’s daughter to her role as Surgeon General from 1993 to 1994.
In January 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed her as the fifteenth U. S. Surgeon General, making her the first African American and the second woman, following Antonia Novello, to hold the position.
In her 1993 autobiography, “Joycelyn Elders, M.D.,” she described being born in 1933 in the tiny town of Schaal, Arkansas, growing up in a threeroom cabin, and graduating from high school as valedictorian. When she entered Philander Smith College in Little Rock, she had never seen a doctor, let alone dreamed of becoming one. The trailblazing Dr. Elders graduated from the University of Arkansas Medical School and then became its first black resident, its first black chief resident, and finally its first black professor.
Described as outspoken and frank talking, Elders took positions on topics that, for the time, proved to be very controversial such as abortion, sex education, the distribution of condoms, the legalization of drugs and others.
She was forced to resign in December 1994 amidst controversy as a result of her views. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Following the film, presented in partnership with the African American studies program at Texas State University, there will be a question and answer period with the director and Glynis Christine, Adjunct Professor of Sociology, Psychology and Student Development at Austin Community College.
Tickets are $9 and available at https:// secure.affinipay. com/pages/firsttuesdaysmtx/ payment.
Doors open at 6:15 p.m, complementary pizza and drinks served from 6:30 p.m., and the film starts at 7. The Price Center is located at 222 W. San Antonio St. in San Marcos. For more information about First Tuesday SMTX, visit firsttuesdaysmtx. com.
