Dr. Tolbert Small

Dr. Tolbert Small performing acupuncture. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Small’s personal collection)

Dr. Tolbert Small performing acupuncture. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Small’s personal collection)

“Why did you become a doctor?” I asked Dr. Tolbert Small over dinner.

“To help the people,” he responded.

This simple but powerful answer and describes the life of Dr. Small. He is a renaissance man – doctor, acupuncturist, activist, poet, father, partner, family man, community member, friend, mentor, and more. In each of his roles, he has a fundamental purpose: to serve the people.

Born in 1942 in Coldwater, Mississippi to Sammie Woods Small and William Monroe Small, Dr. Small understood what racism did to his family and community from a young age. His father struggled to find jobs under the pervasive Jim Crow laws and moved the family to Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Small spent his early childhood living in Black Bottom, a predominantly black community with intense economic hardship. “Some people grow up with flowers around the house,” Dr. Small says, “but we didn’t have flowers. We had dead rats.” Despite the conditions, the Small children were grateful for their childhood. “Our parents were very good parents and very caring. We were poor, but we lived happily.”

Dr. Small’s mother, Sammie, believed that education was the only means for her children’s survival. She sent them to the nearby Catholic school, and Dr. Small would graduate from the University of Detroit High School with honors in June 1959. He then attended the University of Detroit and began his activism, co-founding the student chapter of the NAACP at the university and getting involved with the national Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Realizing that basic healthcare needs were unmet in the community, Dr. Small turned to medicine. Following college, he graduated from the Wayne State School of Medicine on a national Sloan Foundation medical scholarship in 1968. His residency at Highland Hospital brought him to Oakland, California.

Soon after arriving, Dr. Small connected with the Oakland Direct Action Committee and approached the Black Panther Party in 1970. Though he did not formally join, he offered to work pro bono and ran the George Jackson Free Medical Clinic as its director. He also visited prisons and treated prominent leaders such as George Jackson and Angela Davis. Along with BPP leader Bobby Seale, Dr. Small led the national BPP Sickle Cell Anemia Project. His work brought national attention, and sickle cell projects were founded in major cities. In Boston, a young Mary Bassett – the future health commissioner of New York City – was trained in sickle cell screening and community organization.

In 1972, Dr. Small was invited to join the historic BPP delegation trip to China. They witnessed China’s barefoot doctors’ movement, where laypeople were trained in medical basics (including acupuncture) and brought care to underserved communities. Inspired, Dr. Small returned home and taught himself acupuncture. He is one of the first doctors outside of the Asian American community to use acupuncture, offering his patients a cheaper alternative to painkillers.

In 1980, Dr. Small opened up the Harriet Tubman Medical Office in Oakland with Anola Price. For thirty-six years, Dr. Small served the community at his office and through house calls with integrity, respect, and the highest commitment to justice. Today, at the age of seventy-seven, he continues his practice at the Native American Health Center, working fifty-hours per week.

Dr. Small is revered by the community and is an exemplar of the greatest kind of citizen-leader. In 1993, he was awarded the Highland Foundation’s Physician of the Year. Just a year later, he was honored with the City of Oakland’s Resolution in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions and Accomplishments. In 1995, his high school would name him Alumnus of the Year. Dr. Small’s service to the people has healed and uplifted tens of thousands at home and nationwide. Most of all, he is a good man, making those around him feel welcomed, respected, and at home.

His advice to the people? “Develop a social consciousness and you will be energized by positive things that you do in society,” he tells me as we finish up dinner. “I’m not ready to retire yet.” 

I delivered this speech at the BPP’s Alumni Community Awards to honor Dr. Small, where Representative Barbara Lee was also awarded for her contributions to Oakland. More posts about Dr. Small’s inspiring life will be made shortly.

Eana Meng1 Comment