James Alexander Batts Jr (1913 - 1992)

Born 30 Aug 1913 in Rocky Mount, Nash, North Carolina, United States

Died 22 Aug 1992 at age 78 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

James Batts Jr is Notable.

James Batts Jr was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

James A. Batts Jr. was an obstetrician/gynecologist who worked to improve medical care for poor pregnant woman and to increase the number of African Americans in medicine.

Father James A Batts, Sr

Mother Harriet J Eady

James A. Batts Jr., 78, of West Mount Airy, an obstetrician/gynecologist who worked to improve medical care for poor pregnant woman and to increase the number of African Americans in medicine, died Saturday at the hospital of the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

"He was a very good surgeon and very good gynecologist," said Dr. Jan Schneider, chief of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where Dr. Batts served as professor and as chief attending physician from 1979 to 1989.

"He was a very wise man who could see things in a global way," he said. Dr. Batts was unflappable, an adept surgeon and an excellent teacher who was at his best in small groups "where his acumen could come across best."

As chief of obstetrical and gynecological clinics at Temple University Hospital from 1966 until 1969, he made changes that improved treatment and hospital care for the poor women who depended on the clinics.

"All our maternity patients, poor or otherwise, are treated as private patients," he said in an interview at the time. "This is the way it should have been all along, for surely one pregnant woman should receive the same treatment as another."

To do that, he scheduled a staff physician on duty at all times so that patients were not seen only by a resident or intern. He broke up the 15-bed wards and offered every patient a room with no more than three other patients. He also made moves to reduce waiting time in the clinics and tried to make it possible for a woman to see the same doctor throughout her pregnancy.

Concern for the medical care of poor pregnant women was with him all his life.

Two years ago, when he was director of maternal and infant care services with the city Department of Health, Dr. Batts still fretted that young women were not getting the care they and their infants needed, said Loretta Brown, who was his secretary for a time.

She said he had worried that they were not being seen in their first trimester, when they most needed it, and that there were still too many obstacles - lack of car fare, lack of day care - to their getting to the clinics.

Dr. Batts, the first black doctor at Hahnemann Medical College, "was very concerned about the fact that so few minorities were entering medicine," said Dr. Clifton Ogburn, also an emeritus professor at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

He recruited minority students and worked to keep them in school. "That was an integral part of his life," Ogburn said. "He felt committed to it."

Dr. Batts, who was named an emeritus professor at MCP in 1989, often spent much of his own time helping students deal with problems related to learning or to the psychological pressure of medical school, Ogburn said.

And once a year, at his own expense, Dr. Batts threw a party for MCP's minority students and faculty at the Germantown Cricket Club.

Dr. Batts was a hearty, outgoing man who moved quickly and said what he thought, "but he did it in a positive way," according to Ogburn.

He said Dr. Batts was quick to let the students know it when they did well and to let them have it if they did not. "Students enjoyed him," he said. They saw him as a father figure."

He was a slender 5-9, and always dressed immaculately in a suit and tie. He stayed fit by watching his diet and taking a walk each day at lunch time, Brown said. "He was a very active person, and no one would find it easy to believe he was in his 70s."

He was born in Rocky Mount, N.C., then came north and graduated from Overbrook High School in 1931. He earned his bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1937 and his medical degree from Howard University in 1941.

During World War II, he was the regimental surgeon with the 92d Infantry Division, a black unit commanded by white officers. He reached the rank of major and was the highest-ranking black officer in the division. He won the Bronze Star while serving in Italy.

Afterward, he studied obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine in 1948 and 1949 and took a three- year residency in that specialty at Harlem Hospital in New York.

From 1952 until 1965, he conducted a private practice. He became chief of ob/gyn clinics and then chief of community obstetrics and gynecology for Temple University Hospital. From 1974 until 1979, he was director of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Harlem Hospital.

Through the years, he taught at Hahnemann, Temple University Hospital, the

College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and the Medical

College of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Batts was an officer in many community and national organizations. Among them were Planned Parenthood of America, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, the Family Planning Council of New York, the March of Dimes, the United Fund, Community College of Philadelphia, the Urban League, OIC and the Christian Street YMCA.

He was a former president of the Obstetrics Society of Philadelphia, a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a member of many other medical societies.

He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Club 15, the Commissioners (of which he was president), the Philadelphia Club of Frontiers International and Sigma Pi Phi's Alpha Boule. He was a Mason, a member of the DeMolay Consistory 1, PHA, and the James W. Grant Lodge 131, F&AM.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth V. Batts; daughters, Deborah A. and Diane Batts Morrow, who are twins, and Denise I. Batts; stepdaughter, Mercedes Ellington, and four grandchildren. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Obituary: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Wednesday, August 26, 1992

• Birth
  • "North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VHB6-93T : 8 December 2014), James A Batts Jr., 30 Aug 1913; from "North Carolina, Birth and Death Indexes, 1800-2000," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing vol. 14, p. 49, Nash, North Carolina, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.

Name: James A Batts Jr Race: Black Event Type: Birth Birth Date: 30 Aug 1913 Birth County: Nash Parent1 Name: James A Batts Sr Parent2 Name: Harriet J Eady Roll number: NCVR_B_C069_68001 Volume: 14 Page: 49 Source Information Register of Deeds. North Carolina Birth Indexes. Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm.

• 1930 Census
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHWJ-SCD : accessed 7 July 2017), James Batts Jr. in household of James Batts, Philadelphia (Districts 0251-0500), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 468, sheet 15B, line 57, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2121; FHL microfilm 2,341,855.

Name: James Batts Birth Year: abt 1914 Gender: Male Race: Negro (Black) Birthplace: North Carolina Marital Status: Single Relation to Head of House: Son Home in 1930: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Map of Home: View Map Street address: N. 55th Street Ward of City: 34 Block: 561 House Number in Cities or Towns: 114 Dwelling Number: 86 Family Number: 86 Attended School: Yes Able to Read and Write: Yes Father's Birthplace: North Carolina Mother's Birthplace: South Carolina Able to Speak English: Yes Occupation: Janitor Industry: College Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker Employment: Yes Household Members: Name Age James Batts 40 Hattie Batts 38 James Batts 16 Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 2121; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 0468; Image: 396.0; FHL microfilm: 2341855

• Draft Card

Name: James Alexander Batts Race: Black Relationship to Draftee: Self (Head) Birth Place: Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA Birth Date: 30 Aug 1913 Residence: Washington, District of Columbia, USA Registration Date: 1940 Occupation: Student - Howard Univ Weight: 154 Complexion: Dark Brown Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Black Height: 5 10 Next of Kin: Hattie J Batts Relationship to Draftee: Mother Household Members: Name Relationship James Alexander Batts Self (Head) Hattie J Batts Mother Source Citation The National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; Draft Registration Cards for District of Columbia, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 013

• Death

Name: James Batts Gender: Male Birth Date: 30 Aug 1913 Death Date: 22 Aug 1992 SSN: 161032017 Branch 1: ARMY Enlistment Date 1: 1 Aug 1942 Release Date 1: 18 Mar 1946 Source Information Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

• SSDI File
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JRWC-T3Y : 19 May 2014), James A Batts, 22 Aug 1992; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

Name: James A. Batts SSN: 161-03-2017 Last Residence: 19144 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA BORN: 30 Aug 1913 Died: 22 Aug 1992 State (Year) SSN issued: Pennsylvania (Before 1951) Source Citation Number: 161-03-2017; Issue State: Pennsylvania; Issue Date: Before 1951 Source Information Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.

• "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKPB-5F9M : 25 October 2016), James A Batts Jr, Florida, United States, 28 Aug 1992; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Tampa Tribune, The, born-digital text.

• "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK5Z-DXMK : 25 October 2016), James A Batts Jr, Florida, United States, 28 Aug 1992; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Orlando Sentinel, The, born-digital text.

• "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVTP-979W : 16 September 2016), Dr James A Batts Jr in entry for Mrs Ruth Silas Batts, Pennsylvania, United States, 12 May 2010; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Philadelphia Inquirer, The, born-digital text.

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