relations death_date death_place religion birth_place denomination parents birth_date image article_title education name alma_mater
william whipper -lrb- maternal grandfather -rrb- , 13 april 1953 new york city , u.s. christian beaufort , south carolina , u.s. african methodist episcopal church william james whipper , frances anne rollin whipper 08 september 1872 ionia rollin whipper.jpg ionia rollin whipper
 doctor of medicine ionia rollin whipper howard university
ionia rollin whipper

ionia rollin whipper -lrb- 1872 -- 1953 -rrb- was an african american obstetrician and public health outreach worker .
a 1903 graduate of howard university school of medicine , she was one of the few african-american women physicians of her generation .
during the mid-1920s , she worked for the united states children 's bureau ; her work there involved traveling the rural south and training midwives to use sterile delivery techniques and to register births .
during a time when maternity homes for unwed mothers were for white women only , she opened her home to unwed mothers of color .
eventually , with the help of donations , she established a separate home for her work with these women , which still bears her name .
