Dorothy Lavinia Brown

Dr Dorothy Lavinia Brown (January 7, 1914 – June 13, 2004 ), also known as "Dr. D.", While serving in the House of Representatives, Brown fought for women's rights and for the rights of people of color. In 1956, Brown became the first single woman in Tennessee to be granted the right to become an adoptive parent. and was surrendered to the Troy Orphan Asylum, an orphanage in Troy, New York at five months old by her mother, Edna Brown. Dorothy lived at the orphanage until the age of 12.

Although her mother tried to persuade Dorothy to live with her again, Brown ran away five times, returning to the Troy orphanage each time. When she was fifteen, she worked at a self-service laundry.

After finishing high school, Brown attended Bennett College, a historically black college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Brown earned money during this period as an inspector for the Rochester Army Ordnance Department.

Career To start off her career, Brown helped as a doctor in World War II. She worked as an inspector in the Rochester Army Ordnance Department. Brown was the chief surgeon at the now-defunct Riverside Hospital in Nashville from 1957 to 1983. Dr. Brown then did a one-year internship at Harlem Hospital and next she completed a five-year residency in general surgery at Meharry and Hubbard Hospital. In 1959, She became the first black female surgeon to become a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

In 1968, Brown tried to obtain a seat in the Tennessee Senate, but lost in part due to her support for abortion laws. and General Hospitals, as director of education for the clinical rotation program of the Riverside and Meharry Hospitals. Brown became the first known single female in Tennessee to legally adopt a child, whom she named Lola Denise Brown in honor of her foster mother. Brown was a member of the United Methodist Church.