Luego

IN SEARCH OF THE GOOD DOCTOR: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF JOSE ANTONIO PRICE.
By Ariel R. Perez Price
“We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness”
Booker T. Washington

Summary: A personal Statement.

The exceptional story of Dr. Jose Antonio Price (1890-1951) seemed to be condemned to languish onforgiveness, even within my own family. My mother was only 5 and her brothers were no older than 13 years old when he sadly passed away victim of cancer, leaving them with few memories. His grave disappeared from Bocas del Toro´s cemetery, presumably claimed by a rough sea during a storm somewhere back in the 80s. His Birth certificate has never been found and his legacy, as the one of manyprominent black Panamanians, was neglected from national accounts.
My Grandmother Maria America who survived Dr. Price by 53 years, dying at 91, proudly raised five kids on her owns. She was somehow always mysterious and reluctant to talk about her late husband. Her attitude was a dignified one as she behaved as the guardian of his memory. It was only until days before her passing that she agreed toopenly talk about him.
All that was known was that my grandfather was a medicine man in the early years of our country, a black doctor somehow educated in the United States at the beginning of the XX century, as strange as it might sound. Nowadays and after an exciting research process I am able to claim that he was probably the first Afro-Panamanian to hold a Medical Doctor Degree.
His lifewas certainly a struggle for dignity and a testimony of bravery and perseverance that urges to be told.

I. Research Agenda and Methodology:
One of the few written evidence of Dr. Price life and work emerged from the Blue Book of Panama. Edited and sponsored by the government (1917), the Blue Book was an attempt to promote our young country oversees under the presidency of RamonMaximiliano Valdez. It was compiled by William T. Scoular and edited in both English and Spanish language. Its first chapter was called “Narrative and History of the lives of the most prominent People” At page 307, a small reference to Dr. Price can be read as follows:

“Dr. Price is a native of Panama City who has built a good practice and a steady trade at his drug store on Fourth Street and CentralAvenue in Bocas del Toro. He was educated at University of West Tennessee after leaving high school in Kingston. He is the sole proprietor of the largest drugstore in town and is also a member of the Municipal Council of Bocas del Toro, a position that he has filled with distinction for some years past. He posseses farms and houses in Bocas del Toro and is also the owner of a house in KingstonJamaica”

It is relevant to mention that this brief description of Dr. Price in the Blue Book was published when he was only 27 years old. His political and personal contacts at the moment must have been instrumental to secure a paragraph within such an influential publication.
As methodology for this project, I decided to divide the information provided by The Blue Book in four different areas,which I then started developing separately. Those were 1) Personal Life, 2) Academic life, 3) Professional life, 4) Public life.
I will start with the latest three sections as in those I have been able to find documentation supporting definitive conclusions. In the last section I will expand on his personal life which I found much more elusive.

II. Academic life:

During her interview in2004, Dr. Price’s widow claimed that her husband finished his medical studies in 1913, the same year that she was born. This was later proved to be accurate; although, she was not certain about which College he had attended in the United States. This question was partially solved by the Blue Book where it is mentioned that he was educated at the University Of West Tennessee.
Tennessee, a...