Conversations in Indiana African American History and Culture: Leon Bates

Event Details

In 2024, Freetown Village continues its monthly conversations with historians, researchers and educators to discuss topics related to Indiana’s Black heritage.

February’s speaker is Leon Bates, a local historian, veteran and educator and one of Indiana Humanities’ current Wilma Gibbs Moore Fellows. His presentation will examine the life of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph H. Ward, M.D.

A first-generation freedman, born in a slave cabin in Wilson, North Carolina, Ward went on to become a physician, a surgeon, an entrepreneur, an army officer, the first African American to lead a U.S. Army field hospital, the first African American to lead a U.S. veteran’s hospital and the first African American to lead a major hospital in the United States. He did all this at the height of the Jim Crow era, between Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education (1896–1954), and yet, almost no one knows his name.​

The event, which includes a question-and-answer session, will be presented both in person and online via Zoom. Registration is required for both in-person and online attendance. In-person seating is limited to 50 people. Click on the RSVP link above to register for both the in-person and online options.

For more information, visit Freetown Village’s website at www.freetown.org, email info@freetownvillage.org or call 317.631.1870.

This program received support from an INcommon Grant through Indiana Humanities and the Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate. Additional sponsors include Indiana Landmarks’ Black Heritage Preservation Program, IUPUI’s Africana Studies program and the Association of the Study of African American Life and History’s Joseph Taylor branch.