English: Biography: Lena Edwards had a tireless commitment to her profession as a physician and to her community. A daughter of Marie Coakley and Thomas W. Edwards, a dentist who taught at Howard University, and younger sister of another project interviewee, May Edwards Hill, she was born and educated in Washington, D.C. She attended Howard University, where she earned her B.A. and M.D. degrees. After an internship at Freedmen's Hospital, she became the first Black Woman to complete a residency in obstetrics at Margaret Hague Hospital in New Jersey. After many years of medical practice in New Jersey, at the same time that she was raising six children, in 1954 Dr. Edwards joined the faculty of Howard University where she taught obstetrics and gynecology. A devoted teacher, she sought to convey her ideas on the humanity of medicine and importance of treating the patient as an integral whole. She left Howard in 1960 to live and work for five years in a migrant labor camp in Hereford, Tex., where she established a maternity clinic and used her own savings to open a health clinic serving 5,000 laborers and their families. In recognition of her work, she was presented with the Presidential Freedom Award in 1964. A devout Catholic, Dr. Edwards was a pioneer in advocating natural childbirth and throughout her career has been instrumental in setting up programs for unwed mothers, for alcoholics, and for the poor and aged. She was a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of the International College of Surgeons; other memberships included the American Medical Association, American Medical Women's Association, and Delta Sigma Theta. After retirement, she continued to be active in community medicine in New Jersey.

Description: The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. With support from the Schlesinger Library, the project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century. Photograph taken by Judith Sedwick
Repository: Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
Collection: Black Women Oral History Project
Research Guide: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_bwohp

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