Jean L. Harris
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Jean Harris | |
|---|---|
| 8th Mayor of Eden Prairie, Minnesota | |
| In office January 1995 – December 14, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Doug Tenpas |
| Succeeded by | Nancy Tyra-Lukens |
| 2nd Virginia Secretary of Human Resources | |
| In office January 14, 1978 – January 16, 1982 | |
| Governor | John N. Dalton |
| Preceded by | Otis L. Brown |
| Succeeded by | Joe Fisher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jean Louise Harris November 24, 1931 Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 2001 (aged 70) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Leslie John Ellis Jr. |
| Alma mater | Virginia Union University Medical College of Virginia |
Jean Louise Harris (November 24, 1931 – December 14, 2001) was an American physician and politician. The first black woman to graduate from the Medical College of Virginia, she went on to serve on the faculty there before being appointed Virginia Secretary of Human Resources by Governor John N. Dalton.[1] Harris moved to Minnesota, where she ran in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor in 1990 and eventually for mayor of Eden Prairie. She was mayor until her death from lung cancer in 2001.[2]
Jean Harris was the daughter of Mrs. Jean L. Pace-Harris and Dr. Vernon Harris Sr. (April 30, 1897 - June 18, 1965), a prominent Meharry Medical College graduate and African-American physician in Richmond, Virginia. An Episcopalian, Harris was the oldest of her mother's two children; Dr. Harris's younger sister, Dr. Diane Harris Marsh (1936-2020), was a well-known dentist and the wife of Henry L. Marsh, famed Civil Rights attorney, long-time Virginia state senator, and Richmond's first African-American mayor. Dr. Harris's older brother, Vernon Harris Jr (May 18, 1926), was born from Vernon Sr.'s marriage to Beatrice Virginia Robinson Harris (1908–1928), who died at the age of 20 years.
An accomplished pianist, Harris competed in numerous classical piano competitions through the United States.
Harris attended Armstrong High School, graduating in 1947. Douglas Wilder, the first African-American governor in the Virginia and the United States, was Dr. Harris' neighbor and classmate at Armstrong High School and Virginia Union University.
Harris graduated with honors from Virginia Union University in 1951.
First African-American admitted to medical school in Virginia
Harris was the first African-American to be admitted to a medical school in Virginia, notably the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University. Harris noted that, prior to medical school, she “had never been in the presence of more than a few whites at a time, and never in such isolation.” At the same time, she said her classmates “did not know what to expect of me either. The only blacks they had seen had been principally in their kitchens...I worked on both the white wards and the black wards. I delivered white babies and black babies…it was a good experience for MCV as well as for me, and it certainly was a good experience for those white patients who would otherwise never have seen a black physician.” [3]
One of her medical school classmates was Hunter McGuire Jr., a member of the Virginia's well-known multigenerational McGuire medical family, great-grandson of Civil War physician Hunter Holmes McGuire, Dr. McGuire noted:
“I was not prepared for Jean. I was raised in a Confederate cradle, and until then my school and college classes had been all-male, all-white and mostly private school graduates. I wasn’t a snob or active segregationist. I was just naive.”[3]
A member of the Class of 1955, Harris graduated in the top five of her class.[4] Ebony Magazine featured Dr. Harris on its July 1955 magazine cover.[5]
