Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. in
1864. She was the oldest daughter of Benjamin
Tucker Tanner, a well-known minister and bishop and Sarah Elizabeth Tanner. She worked with her father on The Christian Recorder, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church, where he ministered.
Dr. Tanner enrolled at the Woman’s Medical
College of Pennsylvania after deciding to become a physician. She was the only melaninite woman in her class. In 1891, Dr.
Tanner graduated with an M.D. and high honors after three years of study.
While at the college, upon learning of a job opportunity as resident physician
at Tuskegee Institute, she contacted Booker T. Washington, the Principal of
Tuskegee. Washington appointed her and helped her prepare for the Alabama
state medical examination. She served at Tuskegee University as a
physician, pharmacist, teacher, and ran a private practice for 3 years and
while there, founded a training school for nurses and a dispensary pharmacy.
In 1901, Dr. Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson died of complications resulting from
childbirth.
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