Frank Jeremiah Armstrong
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Frank Jeremiah Armstrong | |
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 Armstrong as photographed by Cornell College | |
| Born | April 15, 1877 Marion, Iowa, US |
| Died | (aged 69) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Being the first African American to graduate from Cornell College |
Frank Jeremiah Armstrong (April 15, 1877 – November 2, 1946) was an American physician who was the first African-American graduate of Cornell College. He was the assistant of Booker T. Washington and later became a physician. He was murdered in his office in 1946, possibly by a burglar after a hospital's narcotics.
Armstrong graduated in 1900 from Cornell College as the first African American to do so.[1] His nickname at Cornell was "Buck". He began playing baseball as a part of the Marion Ravens when he was 13 years old, and he played during the 1890s.[2] Armstrong was a part of the college's Adelphian Literary Society and was a secretary of the society for one spring. In 1900, his final year in college, he was the captain of the baseball team. Booker T. Washington was announced as a speaker by Armstrong during the commencement ceremony, leading to Washington hiring Armstrong as his assistant.[1] He received a medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1912 (which became the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1913). Armstrong became a physician in Chicago. He was a part of the Chicago Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the National Medical Association.[3]
Armstrong married Jessie Marie Lucas in Chicago, on December 22, 1915. They had no children.
His college commencement address is in the 1905 book A Record of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the College, published by Cornell College.[4]