Dr. Lydia T. Wright
Dr. Lydia T. Wright was educated in the Cincinnati, Ohio public schools and attended the University of Cincinnati and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated in 1947 from Meharry Medical College.
Dr. Wright was the first African American pediatrician in Buffalo. She and her husband, Frank G. Evans, M.D., opened medical offices at 1453 Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, NY in 1952. Dr. Wright practiced pediatrics for 36 years, retiring in 1988.
Dr. Lydia T. Wright was the first African American person to serve on the Buffalo Board of Education (1962-1967).
In 1963, Dr. Wright proposed having each academic high school specialize in a particular area of the curriculum and draw pupils from all parts of the city - a foreshadowing of the Magnet School system that eventually desegregated the city's schools.
Dr. Wright was the leading advocate of integration and the lone school board member to oppose the controversial 1964 decision on the attendance zone for Woodlawn Junior High School.
Dr. Wright was the community's voice during board debates on school racial integration.
In 1967, Dr. Wright was the first recipient of the Barber G. Conable Award from the Citizen's Council on Human Relations.
Dr. Lydia T. Wright is the recipient of the Red Jacket Award from the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, The Medgar Evers Award from the NAACP, The Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the Pediatrician of the Year Award from the Buffalo Pediatric Society.