232 N Mason Street
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Last updated on July 3, 2025
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Directions from The First Baptist Church to site 8:
- Cross N Mason St on E Wolfe St
- Site 9 is on your left
Dr. Eugene Dickerson was born in 1877 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dickerson received an early education at a local African American public school. He studied at the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (Virginia State University) in Petersburg, Virginia, and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1896. There was an increased interest among African Americans in entering the medical field during Reconstruction. Black physicians faced discrimination from white institutions; therefore, black medical colleges were established to provide an alternative. Dickerson earned his medical degree in 1900 from Leonard Medical School at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He continued his postgraduate work at Howard University and interned at Freedman’s Hospital, a historically black medical institution. In 1910, Dr. Dickerson settled in Harrisonburg and served as a physician for the black community for thirty years. He was referred to as “Doc Dickerson by his patients and community members. In 1904, he married Leona Anderon. Leona was a college education teacher who taught at several black public schools in Staunton, Virginia. The couple and their four children lived in a house on the corner of North Mason Street and East Wolfe Street. The home was also used as Dickerson’s medical office. Under Jim Crow, Dickerson was only allowed to treat black patients in the basement of Rockingham Memorial Hospital. Dickerson traveled to Washington, D.C., to perform surgeries at Freedman’s Hospital when necessary.
Dickerson was dedicated to advocating for the Black community. He wrote a paper titled “Conversation of Health of Community,” which he presented at the local Colored Teacher’s Institute. Dr. Dickerson was an active member of the medical African American community by being a member of the Association of Former Interns of Freedman Hospital in Washington, International Congress on Tuberculosis, Negro Tuberculosis Auxiliary, 1920 Virginia State Republican Convention, Liberty Loan Committee, and Harrisonburg Community Cooperative Association Board of Directions. On April 28, 1924, Dr. Dickerson wrote a letter to W.E.B. DuBois detailing his concerns about the presence and activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Harrisonburg.
Dr. Dickerson moved to Washington D.C in 1947 and practiced medicine until his death in 1955. He is buried in the Newtown Cemetery with his wife and son. The former Dickerson home is now privately owned.
Dickerson was dedicated to advocating for the Black community. He wrote a paper titled “Conversation of Health of Community,” which he presented at the local Colored Teacher’s Institute. Dr. Dickerson was an active member of the medical African American community by being a member of the Association of Former Interns of Freedman Hospital in Washington, International Congress on Tuberculosis, Negro Tuberculosis Auxiliary, 1920 Virginia State Republican Convention, Liberty Loan Committee, and Harrisonburg Community Cooperative Association Board of Directions. On April 28, 1924, Dr. Dickerson wrote a letter to W.E.B. DuBois detailing his concerns about the presence and activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Harrisonburg.
Dr. Dickerson moved to Washington D.C in 1947 and practiced medicine until his death in 1955. He is buried in the Newtown Cemetery with his wife and son. The former Dickerson home is now privately owned.
