Those We Lost — August 4

Honoring those we lost on August 4 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Anna Murray Douglass

Birth name: Anna Murray

Born Mar 8, 1813 — died Aug 4, 1882

Abolitionist, Underground Railroad worker, organizer, and partner in the Douglass family’s freedom work.

Murray helped finance and plan Frederick Douglass’s escape from slavery, then supported their family and the abolitionist cause through paid work and organizing. Their Rochester home became a station on the Underground Railroad, where she provided food, shelter, and care to freedom seekers.

Henry N. Jeter

Full name: Henry Norval Jeter

Born Oct 7, 1851 — died Aug 4, 1938

Baptist minister, author, social reformer, and Black community institution-builder.

Born into slavery in Virginia, Jeter became the longtime pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Newport, Rhode Island. He later organized programs addressing poverty, racial cooperation, and social welfare, using church leadership as a foundation for community reform.

Daniel Hale Williams

Born Jan 18, 1856 — died Aug 4, 1931

Surgeon, medical educator, hospital founder, and pioneer in cardiac surgery.

Williams founded Provident Hospital in Chicago, creating an interracial medical institution and a training school for Black nurses. He also performed one of the earliest successful operations on the pericardium and helped open professional medicine to Black doctors and patients.

William J. Thompkins

Born Jul 5, 1884 — died Aug 4, 1944

Physician, public health administrator, newspaper publisher, and federal civil servant.

Thompkins helped develop Kansas City’s General Hospital No. 2, which became the first American hospital staffed entirely by Black medical professionals. His work connected medicine, housing reform, journalism, and politics, and he later served as Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia.